War of the Dark Arms
by ConnorRambles
Summary: A new threat arrives as a horde of dark creatures invades the world. The Dark Arms, an offshoot of the Black Arms, has risen from the depths to conquer the world where Black Doom failed years ago. Facing a dark horde, led by a ruthless monster, Shadow, Sonic, and company band together against a global invasion, or suffer extinction.
1. Invasion of the Dark Arms

The canyon was silent. He had time to himself, which was a gift in itself for the black furred hedgehog. The wind gave a quiet howl as it blew past his face. The world had been largely at peace for quite awhile now, due in large part to Sonic and his friends.

Shadow stood at the edge of the canyon with his eyes closed, and his arms crossed. He rarely got an opportunity to be on his own anymore, between being a member of Team Dark, and constantly having to help Sonic. He enjoyed the quiet, though peace itself was boring.

"Brooding on your own again, huh?"

And of course, there was the Faker.

Shadow slowly opened his eyes and gave an annoyed growl as his doppelganger stood beside him. The blue hedgehog gave Shadow his signature arrogant, cocky smirk.

"Hey, are you getting shorter Shadow?"

The black hedgehog sighed and closed his eyes. They had been over the fact that Shadow did not age, or grow, or change in any way since he was immortal. However, Sonic was hitting his own little growth spurt, and constantly brought it up to annoy Shadow.

"Is that the only way you can compensate for how badly I kicked your butt during our last fight?"

"Whoa, whoa, WHOA!" Shadow mentally smirked to himself. He knew just as well how to irritate Sonic. "I think you must be getting senile. I kicked _your_ butt in that last fight!"

"Whatever makes you feel better about yourself," Shadow stated. The black hedgehog let his arms drop to his sides and stared at his green eyed counterpart. "What do you want Sonic?"

"Well, I haven't heard anything out of Eggman or you for awhile. I figure one of the two of you might be scheming something."

Shadow grunted dismissively at the accusation. Shadow had never been apart of any _evil_ schemes since the Doctor first awoke him from GUN's fortress. He had no qualms about working with Eggman when it served his own ends, but it had been years since Shadow actually aided the Doctor with his plans.

"You're wasting your time. Maybe you should use this time of peace to train, so I might actually have a fight on my hands next time."

Sonic growled and clenched his fists tightly, "Your memory is slacking, just like you Shadow!"

"My memory is just fine, unlike yours."

"Oh yeah?!"

"Yes."

"Prove it!"

"You're supposed to be on a date with Amy right now."

The wind howled again throughout the canyon as the two hedgehogs stood in pure silence.

"...how did you—,"

"Rouge told me to keep an eye out for you, in case you forgot." Shadow opened his eyes and shifted them over, "_Again._"

"Oh man...I'm going to be on the wrong end of that hammer..."

Shadow huffed with disinterest. Sonic's personal life was none of his business, though Shadow had to admit that the blue hedgehog _finally_ dating his longtime admirer came as a shock when he first heard. If Shadow were capable of feeling happiness for someone else, he might have actually congratulated the Blue Blur on finally growing up a bit. Thankfully, Shadow never felt the obligation to praise his rival.

That was when they both sensed something off.

Shadow's quills stood on end. His red eyes snapped open and scanned the canyon for whatever he was feeling. Sonic had tensed up too. His senses were leagues below Shadow's, but Sonic still had a fairly sharp wit about him.

Small vibrations quaked from below the hedgehogs' feet. They could tell it was far away, whatever it was. The canyon floor slowly started to crack from underneath. Neither hedgehog knew what to expect, what would have come bursting to the surface. When the earth erupted, a sea of black spider-like critters with dark purple stripes on their heads and legs, with similarly colored eyes came skittering out of the ground. Following those creatures were bipedal monsters that shared the same complexion, skin, eyes, and stripes colors.

"Is that...are those the Black Arms?!"

"That's...impossible!"

Shadow's mind raced with other possibilities. He destroyed the Black Arms, their leader, and their comet. There was no way that they could have returned. Shadow knew the Black Arms, he was the offshoot of their master's blood, and these creatures were somehow different. Similar, but not the Black Arms that Shadow and the rest of the planet had fought years ago.

As the monsters continued to pour out, the hedgehogs raced towards the pit down the canyon wall. When they hit the ground, they were horrified to see dozens of more holes emerging with hundreds of the creatures crawling out from the depths.

"We...might be in over our head..." Shadow grabbed his GUN communicator and tossed it to Sonic. The Blue Blur looked at it and then at his counterpart. "Hey what're you—,"

"Contact the Commander," Shadow ordered. His hand clasped his wrist and twisted one of the inhibitor rings off. Sonic made sure to move behind Shadow before turning the communicator on. Shadow snapped the other ring off just as several of the Parasites and Soldiers rushed him. "Chaos Control!"

For Shadow, time stopped. It was temporary of course without a Chaos Emerald, but with his limiters off he could do more than enough damage. The Parasites that had lunged at him moved slowly through the air, as did the Soldiers. Shadow have a small grunt then dashed into the enemy lines.

In real time, Shadow vanished as soon as he had spoken. The dark armies of monsters started flying through the air as small blinks of energy went off like grenades throughout their ranks.

"_...hello?..."_

Sonic's head snapped towards the receiver. The line was scrambled, likely by the canyon walls. "Dang it..." The blue hedgehog raced back up the wall he had run down earlier to open up lines. It took him a matter of seconds.

When he reached the top, Sonic froze in place. Even more holes had emerged, and a new breed of monsters were soaring straight up into the sky, blanketing it with their black wings.

"This is not good..."

"_Shadow...?"_ The static had cleared up over the receiver. _"Shadow is that you?"_

"We have got a HUGE problem on our hands here," Sonic shouted into the receiver.

"_Sonic? We're pulling up satellite feed of your location right—oh..."_

A flock of the dark winged creatures moved towards Sonic. The hedgehog readied himself by jumping into the air. As soon as one was close, Sonic used his homing attack on the nearest one. He collided, making the creature shriek in agony as it crashed into the stone ground. Sonic lunged at the next one, and the next, and took out over six of the creatures within a second. The last one he delivered a spinning heel kick to the back of its skull to send it crashing down. Sonic landed next to the monster. It lied on the ground motionless.

There was no mistaking that the creature was eerily similar to the Black Arms, but the coloration and body structure were vastly different. Unlike the Black Volts, the new creatures had feet, with talons like hawks.

Sonic snapped his attention away from the creature as more swooped in with ungodly shrieks. The hedgehog bolted out of the way and circled around the edge of the canyon's edge to find Shadow. With the numbers of creatures quickly reacting the thousands, the hedgehogs would never stand a chance.

When his green eyes moved down, Sonic continued to see blinks and bursts of energy that was undoubtedly Shadow.

The Ultimate Life Form stopped in the heart of a few hundred Parasites and Soldiers with a red aura flowing around him. "Chaos BLAST!" Shadow threw his arms outward and unleashed a devastating explosion of pure Chaos Energy from his body. The blast annihilated every creature within the immediate vicinity.

As the dust settled, Shadow took a moment to take in the damage. He took out a considerable number, but he hardly placed a dent in the total number of creatures that still crawled out of the holes.

"Damn it..."

"Shadow! We gotta go!" The black hedgehog turned up to look at Sonic's location, and had then realized the hordes of black creatures blanketing the sky. Any hope of victory in the canyon had been quickly shot down.

"I'm heading back to GUN Headquarters," Shadow called out. "Keep the communicator! Find your friends!" Sonic gave his old rival a thumbs up before both hedgehogs dashed in opposite directions, moving and weaving between the monsters as they made their escape.

At the top of the canyon's edge, another hole burst forth. Four creatures, just a bit taller than the Soldiers, wearing golden colored armor and equipped with energy staffs crawled out to secure the exit. Following those four was another creature, similar in appearance, with custom designed chest armor, its own leg armor, and a black cape with red stripes pointing down that came out from the bottom of its chest armor. The creature's color tones were vastly different as well, with the dark purple shade being its base color, and its stripes being red.

The creature hissed before chittering commands to the other four Elites. He turned his head, purple eyes staring at a yellow streak that raced away from it and its forces. The creature narrowed its gaze and growled deeply from its throat.

It stood over the Spawn Canyon as its forces continued to break free and rise from the ground. Gigantic behemoth soon started to break free next, along with colossal Wyrms that shrieked to the skies with their freedom. Two small mountains began to crumble and collapse in heavy pieces of stone. Two enormous beasts rose up, each with four pairs of wings, two spiked tails that were several meters long, craned necks, and sharpened beaks hovered in the air before touching down.

The leader of the horde of monsters overlooked the canyon as it was slowly painted with the masses of his forces. It threw its head back and let out a shriek that echoed off the canyon walls. The armies responded in kind, shrieking and crying out to warn the world of the Dark Arms' invasion.

* * *

In his remote, 'summer getaway' hideout, Doctor Eggman awoke to a blaring alarm system. The doctor whipped his head around before realizing the blueprint for his latest creation was stuck to his face. He pealed it off of his face with a bitter grumble before he went to investigate the cause of the alarm.

When arriving in the control room, Eggman growled at the fact that Orbot and Cubot were both sleeping instead of responding to the alarm. Eggman wondered to himself why those were the only two robots that needed to sleep anyway. He pressed a button to pull up a horrifying display on the screen.

"WHAT?!" The doctor's outburst had his two robot minions jumping with fright. Eggman leaned towards the screen and examined the creatures. "This can't be...the Black Arms have returned?!"

"The Black Arms," Orbot asked. The robot moved next to his master, acting as though he were awake the entire time. "Weren't they destroyed by Shadow the Hedgehog?"

"Yes...but these creatures...they're somehow different." Eggman clenched his fists as he recalled the Invasion of the Black Arms, and how they nearly conquered the world. In the end, even Sonic was powerless to stop Black Doom. Eggman cycled through various feeds of the canyon and noticed that the creatures were rising from underground. The doctor gently ran his hand over his mustache. "We must mobilize the Eggman Fleet immediately...aerial superiority will be our edge in this invasion."

"Are we attacking or defending ourselves," Cubot asked. Eggman stared at the image of what appeared to be the horde's leader. His brow lowered on the creature as he gave an inquisitive hum.

* * *

Shadow closed in on the nearest GUN outpost. It was a standard facility, nothing special. Heavy steel walls with mounted guards, watchtowers, and searchlights. The heavy double doors slowly started to open when catching sight of their on-again-off-again agent coming across the plains. By the time Shadow reached the gates, he shot through the courtyard. He stopped just in front of the officer in charge, flanked by a dozen GUN soldiers.

"Shadow the Hedgehog...what brings you to Outpost Gamma?"

"There's an emergency," Shadow answered quickly and briefly. "The Black Arms are back, and there only a few miles away from this base."

"What?!"

"Their force is too big. This place is going to get overrun if we don't evacuate immediately." The was clearly not a fan of Shadow's proposal. The human scowled furiously down at the hedgehog. "This isn't up for discussion, unless you want to risk the lives of all the men and women here."

"How long do we have?"

"I'd say less than an hour." The officer nodded begrudgingly. Shadow could tell that the man did not like him. Most GUN officials hated Shadow. Even the Commander never grew too fond of Shadow, but they both respected one another to say the least.

"Send out all our Beetles and Hunters as a forward advance group," the officer shouted. "Maybe we can slow these monsters down a bit! Start gathering all our soldiers, munitions, and supplies together! Rig the outpost for total Ground Zero Protocol! We cannot let this base fall into enemy hands!" The officer turned to Shadow as half of his personal escort left to accomplish his orders. "And you're coming with me to contact the Commander..." Shadow nodded his head. It was the whole reason he bothered to stop by in the first place.

Once in the control room, the officer pulled up video feed of the Commander. After Shadow briefed him on the situation, the distress was clear on the Commander's face. "The Black Arms...we've been getting feed from the station that Sonic contacted, and we're informing every GUN outpost and soldier available. We're mobilizing for another global invasion." Shadow nodded his head. Unlike most humans, Shadow respected the Commander for never wasting time. "Shadow, you're sure these are the Black Arms? I mean they're...different..."

Shadow understood the Commander's hesitation to accept that the planet's biggest threat was back in force. Unfortunately, there was nothing else that those creatures could be.

"It doesn't matter what they are, they're a threat," the officer stated. The Commander's doubt was replaced by his iron resolve.

"You're right. Captain, finish evacuating your outpost immediately and report back to headquarters." The captain gave his superior officer a salute before the Commander turned to the hedgehog. "Shadow, I'll contact Rouge and Omega and fix a rendezvous point." Shadow nodded.

The Commander cut communications. His face fell before he shook his head. "God help us..."

The captain turned to Shadow. Before either could speak, a communications officer approached and gave the required salute. "Sir, the robot squadrons are approaching the enemy!"

"Pull up the feed!" The screen was replaced by the sights from one of the Hunter bots. The captain clenched his fists tightly. They had two hundred Beetles and a hundred and fifty Hunters out there to meet the enemy.

The robot battalion stopped and remained in a solid line. The Shield Hunters made up the front of the line, with Gun Hunters and Laser Hunters filling the back. The Beetles were spread out in proper military formations above the heads of the Hunter robots.

"Sir, enemy should be within visual in ten seconds!"

Shadow waited and fixed his red eyes on the screen. When the ten seconds were up, a single monster with a large hammer lined with some sort of energy stomped over the hill. Shortly after, a line of a thousand Dark Soldiers filled the horizon, followed by another, and another, before the Dark Volts began soaring over the ranks as well.

The GUN personnel stared in horror at the numbers. The captain, and even Shadow were shocked by the enemy's strength as well. Even with all the robots to act as a defense, there was no way to slow down such a force.

The only hope was to go down swinging.

The Hunters and Beetles started firing at the Dark Volts that swooped down on them. Hundreds upon hundreds of the creatures dropped in heaps. Despite the heavy losses for the number of Volts, many of the flock managed to take out several Beetles, and tear a few Hunters to pieces as well.

In the control room, several officers started shouting the damage all at once over each other. They still had a majority of their bots still in place. The bad news was that the bulk of the enemy forces were closing in still.

The giant hammer wielding monster grunted, as the first line of 'infantry' were a line of Dark Brutes, giant behemoths of pure, raw strength. The leader of the particular horde resembled the traditional Black Arms much more closely, as its skin was black and red, with yellow eyes. It wore heavy shoulder pauldrons, forearm guards, and black colored greaves that shielded its legs. To add to its intimidating appearance, it stood a full head taller than the other Brutes.

The monster in charge raised its arm up above its head and then moved it at the robots. The first line of Dark Brutes charged forward ahead of the pack, only to have the vacancy filled by traditional Dark Soldiers.

The Hunters and Beetles all opened fire and concentrated on the Dark Brutes. Several of the beasts were mowed down in their first charge. The first Brute threw a punch that smashed through a Shield Hunter. It was quickly mowed down next. The rest of the Brutes jumped into the fray and began smashing and tearing the robots apart one by one. The fight was brutal and frantic. Dark Arms blood splattered through the air as pieces of metal went flying in all directions. The heavy weight of the Brutes caused the ground to shake, and the parts of robot decorate the floor. The Hornets held the advantage by remaining out of the Brutes' reach.

Before the robots could finish off the last Brute, the leader had reached the fighting. With a single downward swing of its hammer, the creature completely pulverized a perfectly undamaged Shield Hunter. The robots all turned and started firing on the monster, but the bullets bounced off of its tough hide. The monster swung its hammer around, turning the Hunters into scrap. With each swing, each hit the hammer landed, the energy around it seemed to grow more and more unstable. The creature took the hammer and slammed it hard into the ground.

A powerful explosion of pure energy, similar to Shadow's Chaos Blast, went off and wiped out the remaining bots, and cut off any and all feed back to the GUN outpost.

The entire control room filled with dead silence. Even Shadow was stunned by the power that the one particular creature displayed. Any other attack attempted against those numbers was suicide, and everyone knew it.

"We evacuate in twenty minutes," the captain murmured. "Anything that isn't loaded up gets left behind. We're putting as much distance between us and those things as possible..."

Shadow stared at the frozen, fuzzy image of the hammer wielding monster. There was no mistaking that it was apart of the Black Arms. After comparing it to the rest of its forces, Shadow began to wonder if they truly were the Black Arms, or what else they possibly could be.

He had to find out.

The forces continued to march through the fields to secure a perimeter for their new outpost on the surface. The massive monster itched for more battle, more violence. The tin cans he had obliterated hardly provided any sort of challenge for him.

The company came to a halt when something collided against their leader's skull. The monster roared in fury as it stumbled to the side before a black blur came grinding to a halt. The beast snarled as it searched for its attacker.

Shadow glared at the head monster, arms crossed and a frown on his face. The beast took in a sharp breath when its eyes laid on him.

"You're the Black Arms, aren't you?" The creatures all remained still. Shadow's eyes drifted between the ranks, waiting for something.

The leader slammed the hilt of his hammer into the ground. It spoke with a dark, rumbling voice, "The Black Arms died years ago with Black Doom..."

"Then what are you," Shadow asked.

The creature exhaled before hoisting its free, heavy arm into the air, "We are the reborn, we are legion, we are the Dark Arms!" The horde of monsters behind their leader all roared, growled, and hissed at the declaration. The monster pounded on its chest with its dense fist like a war drum, "We fight under the banner of our leader, Dark Solstice! We shall accomplish what the Black Arms failed to do! We shall conquer this planet, and destroy you, Shadow the Hedgehog!"

"You don't stand a chance..."

Shadow froze when he heard an echoing explosion. He looked back and saw a pillar of smoke where the GUN outpost was. His eyes widened. They still had plenty of time left.

Before the hedgehog could focus on the destroyed base any further, the Dark Arms commander slammed its hammer into him. Shadow cried out as he flew across the field and skidding across the ground before stopping. Dirt and grass caked his fur as he scraped himself off the ground.

The Dark Arms monster walked towards Shadow. His legions remained behind their leader. Shadow growled angrily and glared daggers at the hammer wielding monstrosity. "With your death, the Dark Arms' campaign will be even more crushing than we originally hoped!" Shadow brushed some of the loose dirt off of his arms. His fists were clenched tightly. "Know me, know your better that defeated you! I am Dark Marauder! And I will—,"

Shadow vanished and reappeared with a solid kick across the behemoth's face. Marauder cried out and stumbled with heavy footsteps. Shadow landed on the ground perfectly and huffed.

"You talk too much."

Marauder accepted the challenge. He swung his hammer around in a full circular motion. Shadow vanished again just as the weapon was about to strike him. The hedgehog reappeared above Marauder and spun his body around before homing in on the monster's back. The impact caused the behemoth to stumble again. He caught himself on his hammer and looked back over its broad shoulder just as Shadow landed. The Ultimate Life Form lunged at Marauder again, balling up for another homing attack. The Dark Arms behemoth swung his hammer and smashed it against Shadow. The spinning ball that was the hedgehog flew back and bounced off the ground. Once he caught traction, Shadow began to spin even faster.

Shadow's form began glowing with a golden aura as it drew in more and more power. Marauder growled deeply and clenched his weapon as it began to hum and radiant with a red glow.

Shadow launched forward again. Marauder swung. The impact created a devastating shockwave that launched both combatants backwards, and created a small dent in the earth.

Shadow spun head over heel as he was hurled backwards. He flipped around and caught himself as his hand touched the ground, and rolled onto his feet.

Marauder hit the ground and bounced off of it, leaving a small crater from the weight of his impact. He rolled a few times before stopping. Without any delay, he began lifting himself off the ground.

"He's tough," Shadow told himself. Without his Inhibitor Rings, Shadow's body was quickly reaching the point of overexertion. If that happened, he was done for against this many enemies.

"Impressive...as expected from a creature born of Black Doom's blood..."

Shadow made no retort. The distance between Shadow and Marauder meant that the hedgehog would have to make the attack. Marauder was huge and slow, they both knew him attacking was suicidal at best.

Shadow vanished and appeared behind Marauder. He disappeared again, just as the monster swung backwards once more. The commander gasped in horror, realizing that he had been played before Shadow's spinning form crashed into his gut.

Marauder was pushed back from the force of Shadow's attack. His heavy feet dug trenches as he tried to take on Shadow's assault. As the Ultimate Life Form began spinning faster, he built up more energy and started to push Marauder back further. Finally, Shadow broke his spinning to propel himself upward with his leg extended outward. The thunderous sound of his foot slamming against Marauder's chin echoed among the ranks of the Dark Arms. The heavy monster was even lifted off of the ground while Shadow went sailing into the air from the built up momentum. While in the air, Shadow vanished and reappeared on the ground just before Marauder landed with an earth-shaking impact.

Shadow stared at the motionless commander, then turned his gaze to the army in front of him. The mindless creatures all seemed horrified that their superior had been bested.

The idea of victory was short lived, as Marauder slowly started to rise up again. Shadow stiffened at the sight. Any normal creature would have literally lost their head after a blow so powerful.

"Damn..." Shadow knew he couldn't keep fighting at the rate he was going. His pride refused to let him back down though.

As Marauder got to his feet and grabbed his hammer, something explosive was dropped within the heart of his forces. Shadow and Marauder both looked back as more explosions went off one by one, throwing Dark Arm forces and pieces everywhere. Shadow looked up to see a small fighter soaring through the sky and dropping bombs from above. It was a unique jet, bearing common designs from most vehicles operated by GUN pilots.

The jet cleared the battlefield before circling back around. It lowered down to the ground quickly, aimed right for Shadow. The hedgehog turned as Marauder rushed him. Shadow charged his foe as well. As the two moved in towards each other, Marauder swept his hammer across the ground to hit Shadow. The hedgehog balled up and spun beneath the strike, and between Marauder's legs. As he moved behind his enemy, Shadow sprung into the air just as the jet zoomed through.

Marauder whirled around, only to watch as his army's biggest threat soared off into the sky. The beast threw his head back and roared angrily at the heavens. "COWARD!"

Shadow had his hand up to shield his eyes from the blistering winds before he jumped down one of the fighter's hatches, closing the lid above him as he hopped down. When he landed on the steel flooring, Shadow looked up to see Omega standing to greet him, and Rouge sitting in the pilot's seat.

"You sure know how to pick em," Rouge murmured. Shadow huffed bitterly.

"We don't get to choose our enemies." Omega opened his hand and revealed two Inhibitor Rings. Shadow nodded to his robotic friend and took the rings. Each one clicked around his wrist, and he felt what was left of his power drop sharply. "I need to speak to the Commander."

"He's with the President in a secure location," Rouge said with a wary sigh. She hated protocol as much as Shadow, if not more. "Communications are only outgoing wherever they are. But this baby here will patch us into any other GUN lines available."

"Send word out. These things...whatever they are, they call themselves the Dark Arms. The big one I was fighting, his name is Dark Marauder. Apparently their leader is someone named Dark Solstice."

"Are you _sure_ they're not the Black Arms? They sure as heck sound like it."

"Negative," Omega said. "Scans indicate that these new creatures are not Black Arms, but rather an offshoot of their genetics."

"_How right you are, dear Omega..."_

The robot whirled its head towards the speaker, Rouge rolled her eyes, and Shadow greeted the voice coming over the radio, "Doctor..."

The video feed lit up, revealing Eggman's face, _"Hohoho, Shadow, good to see you again."_

"What are you doing hacking into _my_ airship Doctor," Rouge questioned.

"_Oh please, hacking into anything made up by GUN is child's play. Look, I want to help stop this invasion, or whatever it is."_

"We can't afford to be picky in this case," Shadow stated. His eyes went over to Omega, who was the only one of their Team who truly hated Eggman. Rouge was annoyed by him, at worst, and Shadow at times respected the Doctor. "What kind of help can you offer us? In case you forgot, you're on GUN's most wanted list."

"_Exactly why I'm talking to _you_ and not GUN. These Black Arms have already gotten to work on mounting a full scale invasion. From what I picked up on the feed from the satellites, they're pulling out a whole lot of nasty weapons."_

"So it really is an invasion," Rouge muttered quietly. Shadow took the copilot's seat next to Rouge while Omega stood behind both of his partners.

"_Even the full power of the Eggman Fleet might not be able to stop them at this point. From the looks of it though, they're trying to give themselves enough room to finish preparing for the invasion. If we let them build up the power, they might just wipe out all life on the planet."_

"Options," Shadow asked. The Doctor always had a plan.

"_The Chaos Emeralds."_

"Of course," Rouge quipped. The smirk on her face said she was anything but disappointed to hunt after the Emeralds again.

"_With the power of the Chaos Emeralds, we should be able to stop this Dark Solstice before his invasion can even begin. It's the one thing that stopped the Black Arms last time, and it looks like they might be our only hope now."_

"Lucky for us, I had a tracker installed on this ship to track Chaos Energy readings." Shadow looked over at Rouge, eyes filled with scrutiny. "Energy readings _outside_ the ship." The hedgehog nodded and turned back to Eggman.

"_I would offer to help, but, I doubt any of you would trust me to give up the Chaos Emeralds."_

"Not a chance," Rouge replied.

"Nope," Shadow added.

"Negative."

Eggman glared at Team Dark and crossed his arms. _"You don't have to be so rude about it. I'm going to do what I can to slow down their advances and track their movements. Meanwhile, you three need to hunt for the Emeralds, let Sonic and his friends know the plan, and get GUN off its lazy butt to help stop the Dark Arms!"_

"Oh is that all?" Rouge flashed a smirk to her longtime partner.

"We'll get it done Doctor. Keep us informed." Shadow leaned forward and cut off communications. His eyes fell slightly.

"It's best if we split up," Rouge suggested. "I'll try to pull in what favors and connections I have with GUN and let them know what we know, and to...avoid Eggman." The treasure hunter knew that no one in GUN aside from themselves would work alongside Eggman.

"I will hunt for the nearest Chaos Emerald," Omega said as his hand rotated around.

"I guess that leaves me with the Faker and his friends..."

"You two still can't get past this 'Faker' business?" Shadow huffed. Rouge shook her head, "Boys..."

* * *

**So, my first Sonic fanfiction ever. Hopefully it's not too terrible! I'm definitely open to critiques, advise, pointers, and things of the like to improve. I'm also open to positive reviews too! Don't think that I'm not open to good things too.**

**Hopefully you enjoyed the first chapter! More to come!**


	2. Green Jungle Chaos

As Team Dark's jet flew several meters above the ground, Shadow stood at the ready. The jet whipped its tail end around quickly as the black hedgehog jumped out. He landed with a spin dash and rocketed down through the Green Jungles.

"_Shadow, do you copy?"_

The hedgehog jumped up and ran through the jungles, "Loud and clear Rouge."

"_Tails' workshop is deeper in the jungle. The Dark Arms are already there looking for him too. You'll have your work cut out for you."_

"Copy that, I'm on the move," Shadow stated as he jumped over a fallen tree.

"_You're sure Sonic is going to be there?"_

"I told him to warn his friends. Tails' workshop would be the first place I would check for his best friend." Shadow rolled under another tree and came into a clearing full of Dark Soldiers. "Shadow out."

The Soldiers aimed their laser blasters at the black hedgehog. Shadow dashed under the opening shots, and smashed through three soldiers. The last soldier was bounced off of, and Shadow attacked the remainder with well placed homing attacks. Within a few seconds, the entire squad was out of commission.

Shadow looked down and picked up one of the blasters. It was a crud knock-off of standard Black Arms weaponry, at best. He tossed the crud blaster to the side, "Uncivilized junk..." Everything about the Dark Arms seemed to only be a cheap knock off of their predecessors. The threat the new aliens presented though was just as real.

Shadow continued through the jungle. His mind wandered as he traversed through the trees. Black Doom's invasion, his lies about Shadow's purpose. Even with the alien tyrant long dead, his encounter with Shadow left a dark mark that the hedgehog could never shake.

Just like Maria.

An explosion tossed Shadow into a tree, and promptly snapped him back to reality. He groaned and held his throbbing head.

Unbeknownst to the black hedgehog, a small squad of Dark Soldiers and Parasites headed by one of the Dark Elite moved towards him. The Elite marched up to Shadow and pulled out its sword to finish the hedgehog off.

"Take THAT!" Shadow pulled his head up as one of the Dark Soldiers went flying across the clearing. The rest of the Dark Arms turned as a pink hedgehog jumped in front of another Soldier. With a powerful swing of her hammer, she sent the alien flying back into one of their comrades. "Don't take me lightly!"

Shadow took a moment for his bewilderment before realizing that an Elite was standing right above him. The alien turned down just as Shadow shot off the ground and connected his fist with the alien's chin.

Two Dark Soldiers armed with swords charged Amy. The pink hedgehog swung her hammer against the first alien, and used the recoil from the enemy's defense to slam the other half of her weapon through the second alien. Amy let the weight of her hammer fall to the ground, throwing her up into the air as she flipped end over end through the air before landing on the first Soldier's head with a hard but perfect landing. The alien fell to the ground with a hard thud and gave a weak whimper before Amy stepped off of its back.

Shadow quickly dashed through the rest of the soldiers, only two remaining, and used his speed to wipe out the Parasites quickly as well.

The Ultimate Life Form then came into focus as he stood perfectly still a few feet in front of Amy. The pink hedgehog picked up her hammer and smiled at her friend. "Hey Shadow. I thought you would come around."

"Is Sonic here?" Shadow looked back over his shoulder for a split second until he turned to face Amy. He saw her wearing a more modern outfit, rather than her classic dress. Hers was a more sporting, but of course still fashionable, and a darker shade of pink, with red wrist cuffs and shoes.

"Yeah, me, Sonic, and Tails are back at his workshop. We don't know where Knuckles is though..."

"That's fine." Shadow walked forward to the workshop. "We have a plan ready."

Amy quickly moved to catch up to Shadow, "Is it the Chaos Emeralds?" Shadow stopped for a moment. Amy caught up with him, and noticed the bewildered look on Shadow's face. "Eggman sent a message to Tails before Sonic got there. Thankfully our favorite fox already had one of the Emeralds on hand."

Shadow turned towards Amy with his brow raised slightly, "And what's the bad news?"

Amy opened her mouth, but as soon as she did, the forest filled with the deafening sound of an engine. Amy covered her ears and groaned. Shadow simply looked up as darkness was cast over their location. He watched calmly as a large ship flew overhead with several smaller vessels, drop ships and aerial fighters, zooming by with it.

"Those ships have the sky completely covered in this area looking for the Chaos Emerald. Tails can't take off in the Tornado with that thing flying up there." Amy stared out at the ship silently. She glanced over curiously at Shadow, whose eyes were fixed on the ship. She looked at him, then it, then him again and sighed, "You're about to suggest what I think you're going to suggest, aren't you...?"

"Go regroup with your friends. I'll handle this on my own." Shadow walked in the direction of the ship, only to stop when he heard a very hard impact behind him. He turned immediately, only to see the Dark Elite crashing to the ground from the Piko Hammer. The hedgehog accessed the situation quickly. In short, he realized the pink one saved him. Again.

"Honestly, you're just as bad as Sonic," Amy stated as she walked past Sonic with her nose in the air, hammer resting on her shoulder, and a hand on her hip. "You just get so focused on one thing..." Shadow sighed with defeat before following Amy. He knew he was stuck with her now.

* * *

Shadow admitted he was rather surprised at how well Amy could keep up with his speed, after he took the lead again. Even more impressive was her ability to keep up in such treacherous terrain. She was a more formidable woman than most people gave her credit for. Shadow recognized it though.

"So, you _do_ know how to pilot one of those things, right," Amy asked as she jumped over a fallen tree that Shadow rolled under.

"Who said anything about piloting it?" Amy groaned and rolled her eyes.

"Just like Sonic..."

Shadow narrowed his eyes at the approaching cliff ledge and pulled himself back to a stop. Amy ground to a halt next to him as they both looked out into the jungle below.

The Dark Arms had twisted the landscape horribly. Miles of jungle was chopped down, burned, blown away, or sucked into one of their emergence holes. Amy looked out in distress and her heart sank. The Green Jungle was one of her favorite places because of its beauty.

Shadow's eyes focused on the Dark Arms themselves, rather than the havoc they brought. Shadow saw a large number of Dark Brutes, as well as a number of tanks that helped carry their soldiers.

"They're more organized than the Black Arms forces," Shadow stated. Amy turned her attention to the black hedgehog as he knelt down over the ledge. "The Black Arms were just extensions of Black Doom. They didn't think, they only destroyed because that's what Doom wanted. The Dark Arms though...they're working towards something. They're looking for the Chaos Emerald."

Both hedgehogs looked up as they heard the ship approaching again. The main ship slowed over a clearing in the jungle below. A dark source of light came down from the ship as more soldiers and vehicles slowly dropped from the cruiser.

"How are we going to get in that ship," Amy asked. "It's not like we can just blow through that many bad guys and jump on board."

"Maybe Chaos Control could get us close enough," Shadow wondered. He hesitated though, as he was still recouping from his earlier devastation of the Dark Arms forces, and his battle with Dark Marauder. "If only I had that Chaos Emerald..."

"We could try going back to Tails' workshop if you think we'll have the time?"

Shadow shook his head and stood up. "I don't think so. We'll just have to run through."

"Run through...? You don't mean—,"

Shadow grabbed Amy's hand and dashed down the cliff at full speed.

A patrolling Dark Soldier watched as one of their tanks blasted down another chunk of forest. The creature gave a delighted hiss at the sight. The next second, the creature was bowled over by a blur.

Shadow continued to speed through and plowed a path straight through the enemy forces. Amy was screaming in both fear and anger as she was dragged along.

The two finally came to a stop in front of a wall of enemies that blocked them from the gravity beam. Amy took a second to reorient herself before realizing that they were surrounded. "Seriously!? You're WORSE than Sonic!"

"You're the one who wanted to tag along." Amy fumed. Loudly. Shadow wondered to himself why she and Sonic weren't dating sooner.

Shadow dashed straight into the front lines while Amy ran towards the right.

The Ultimate Life Form bounced through several Dark Brutes. His simple attacks disoriented the giant monsters, but did not knock them down. When he landed on the ground behind the first line of Dark Arms, Shadow charged up his Light Speed Attack. He released and blazed through dozens of Soldiers and even more Parasites. The Soldiers were hit with tremendous force, and thrown back or into the ground. The Parasites themselves were squashed like the bugs they were reminiscent of.

Amy drop-kicked a Soldier in the chest. The alien was thrown back into two of its comrades. The pink hedgehog quickly rolled off the ground and swung her Piko Piko Hammer upwards and cracked the chin of another Soldier. Amy smirked, until a horde of Dark Parasites lunged at her. She shrieked and spun around with her hammer, creating a Pink Whirlwind that swept up all the Parasites high into the air. When she stopped the tornado, the bugs all came crashing down onto the ground, writhing in pain.

"Ewww, I hate bugs!"

Shadow bounced off the face of one Dark Brutes, causing it to crash onto the ground. The black hedgehog landed above the beast's head. A squad of Soldiers led by two Dark Elites rushed him. Shadow pulled his arm back, and gathered Chaos Energy into his hand.

"Chaos Spear!" The black hedgehog threw his arm outward, unleashing a powerful bolt of energy that shot forward and blew the Dark Arms away. Shadow vanished from sight.

Amy hopped back as a Dark Brute attempted to crush her with its oversized fist. The force of the punch smashed through the ground like wet paper. She ran up the beast's arm quickly and brought her weapon crashing down on the top of the creature's head. The Dark Brute groaned loudly as it slammed heavily into the ground. The pink hedgehog jumped in the air, flipped around, and landed perfectly on its spiked back.

Three purple blinks of light went off around Amy and the fallen Brute, materializing in the form of three Elites, all armed with blasters aimed at the hedgehog. Amy froze in place until she lunged at one of the Elites. It vanished again in another blink as Amy swung at the empty air. The other two Dark Elites began firing as the third appeared alongside its brethren and fired with them. Amy dove behind a fallen tree for cover as the lasers started tearing away at the bark.

Shadow kicked one of the Elites from behind with enough force to shatter its armor. The creature slammed into the ground. The other two aliens turned and fired at Shadow as he disappeared. The hedgehog reappeared behind another alien and swung his leg. The Dark Elite vanished shortly before Shadow's attack could connect. The second Elite disappeared, along with Shadow.

Amy peaked out from behind her cover as she watched the two Elites and Shadow reappear and vanish in a mixture of dashes, blinks, and blaster fire.

Shadow appeared and crouched in the center of a clearing. He would have collapsed if he didn't catch himself on his hands. The two Dark Arms Elites appeared on either side of Shadow, and began to charge up their blasters. Shadow quickly jumped into the air, and both aliens' weapons followed him. As they fired, Shadow disappeared. The Elites managed to choke out a horrified sound before their blaster fire hit the opposite shooter.

Shadow reappeared next to Amy as both Dark Elites fell to the ground with smoke coming out of their chests. "Still think this was a smart idea," Amy asked the winded hedgehog. Shadow shot her an angry glare before he sat up.

Staring back at Shadow were a large number of Dark Arms waiting for the hedgehogs to come out of hiding. Shadow took a second to look through their numbers. With the firepower and numbers they were had on hand, the Dark Arms could easily blow them away and half the jungle in one swoop. They had stopped for a reason.

"Shadow, look!" The black hedgehog looked up to where Amy was pointing and saw five figures slowly dropping from the gravity beam. Two of them were Elites, two more were Brutes, and one was unique among them all.

It was of the Dark Arms, but its slimy skin was purple with dark blue strips. Shadow had never seen one shade of blue in the entire army, and the Dark Arms' basic forces were predominately the identical, just like the Black Arms.

The center commander, as Shadow had guessed it, wore advanced bracers around its forearms, a studded combat skirt that was open in the front, and greaves on its legs. Its chest armor was unique to it as well, as the straps reached over the shoulders and under the arms, leaving the midsection exposed. Its armor was dark purple in color, and its battle skirt was pitch black with red studs.

As the creature and its escort landed, it marched through the lines as the Dark Arms parted for their commander. It took several generous steps towards their cover and stopped about halfway.

"Shadow the Hedgehog. I am Dark Shade. I am Dark Solstice's top agent." Shadow remained silent. He could never understand why every enemy wanted to chat it out with him. "You've damaged Marauder's pride. Normally I wouldn't mind, but Lord Solstice refuses to have our General's reputation so tarnished. Surrender yourself over to us now, and we'll spare your comrade. Refuse, and you both will die."

Shadow closed his eyes and groaned. He knew that Shade could and _would_ keep true to his threat. And Amy's life wasn't Shadow's to risk.

He opened his eyes when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Shadow looked over at Amy, who was giving him a fierce glare. "You can't give up. There's no way they're going to let _either_ of us escape!"

"I know that," Shadow murmured. He stared at his hands, more specifically his limiters. "There hasn't been a time where I've needed to take these off twice in one day..."

"Shadow...?"

He knew he had no other options left. Without some sort of power boost, Shadow and Amy both would be annihilated at a moment's notice. Shadow snapped the first ring off and handed it to Amy. The confused girl took the ring as Shadow snapped off the second and gave it to her.

"Keep your head down..."

Shadow vaulted over the cover and shot forward with enough force to knock Amy on her side.

Shade remained still as Shadow shot past him. The Ultimate Life Form took half a second to gather enough power for his Light Speed Attack, and unleashed it in even less time. The black spinning ball bounced, dashed, and tore through dozens of the aliens at once. He used his homing attack and blasted through one of their tanks. The vehicle promptly exploded as Shadow dashed away from it.

With a good three fourths of Shade's forces destroyed, Shadow made an assault for the agent himself. Shadow appeared in a blink before Dark Shade and threw a forceful kick at him. Shade lifted up his arm as a blade of solid yellow energy shot out above his hand. The kick was blocked by the blade, and Shade retaliated quickly as he swung the same arm through the air where Shadow was.

The black hedgehog reappeared well out of Shade's reach, before he slid to a stop in front of the Dark Arms agent. Shadow was at his absolute limit. He held himself up on one knee, with his hand touching the ground as he panted heavily. Dark Shade stared down at Shadow with yellow, empty eyes and began to slowly clap his hands together.

"Very impressive. Tell me, do you still have enough power to face me though, Shadow the Hedgehog?"

The black hedgehog slowly forced himself to his feet, as a glowing red aura began to flow off of his body. "More than enough," Shadow replied. Dark Shade's eyes widened as he recognized the power building up around Shadow. The hedgehog bent his knees and elbows as he drew in as much power as he possibly could. "Chaos..." Shade slammed his fists together and formed an energy shield that came out of his wrist devices. "BLAST!" Shadow threw his arms out and unleashed all the power at once.

The explosion created a huge dome of red energy that wiped out the remainder of Dark Arms in the immediate area. The downfall of it was that Shadow was down on his hands and knees without an ounce of strength to spare.

"D-damn it..."

Behind Shadow, an invisible force broke through a cloud of smoke. Dark Shade began to materialize as if out of thin air while walking towards Shadow. The agent's skirt was tattered a bit, his armor and skin scuffed from the blast. Without warning, the alien slammed his foot into Shadow's ribs with enough force to send the hedgehog rolling across the dirt.

"That was impressive, Shadow the Hedgehog, most impressive." Shadow growled as he held his side. His ribs ached like they were on fire. Shade walked towards the hedgehog. "Taking out a battalion in one go...I see why Dark Solstice wants you out of the way as soon as possible." Shade kicked Shadow again in the same spot, getting a satisfying cry of pain from the black hedgehog. The Dark Arms agent then put his boot down on Shadow's ribs and began to press down. Shadow winced sharply as his hands tried to push the boot off. "And I see why Marauder had difficulties taking you down." Shade held up his hand as his gauntlet flashed the energy blade to life. Shadow shot a defiant glare up at the alien. "Don't take it too personally. I won because you've had quite the busy day already. Had you not faced Marauder, or our immediate surface forces, this battle _may_ have went another direction for you."

Shade lifted up his arm, ready to pierce through Shadow with his blade. The black hedgehog only watched with a scowl on his face. The alien thrust his blade down, only to be knocked away by a hammer. Shade exclaimed in shock before the bottom part of a pair of shoes slammed into his face. Amy landed in front of Shadow as his only line of defense. The firm glare she wore told the world she wouldn't go down without a fight of her own.

Shade rubbed his throbbing jaw and growled furiously at the pink hedgehog. "Fine then. Allow me to call in _my_ reinforcements..." Shade lifted his hand up to the sky, or more specifically, his ship. Amy and Shadow both looked up as a few dozen cannons turned towards their location. Amy's eyes widened in horror as her odds had plummeted. "Farewell..."

Before Shade could give the order, an explosion tore out from the heart of the ship. Dark Shade snapped his head up only to see an aircraft zooming out of the fiery smoke.

"Tails," Amy cheered.

The Tornado cleared its distance from Dark Shade's flagship as more explosions went off one by one all over. The agent of the Dark Arms growled furiously as his eyes fixated on the airplane. Tails brought the aircraft around and was headed right for Shade's location. The alien readied himself to slice the wings off of the fox pilot. At the last second, the Tornado whipped around at the edge of the smoldering wreckage of Shadow's Chaos Blast, and a blue, spinning orb flew off the plane.

Shade was startled by the attack, until it hit him and knocked him to the floor. The blue blur bounced off the ground and landed in front of Amy and Shadow both. Sonic glared daggers at Dark Shade.

"You...rodents keep coming out of the woodwork," Shade murmured as he rose up to his feet.

"I don't know who you think you are creep, but you're through!"

Dark Shade laughed at Sonic's boastful claim and began to step backwards. Sonic narrowed his eyes at his foe's apparent retreat. "You've won this round...but know that the Chaos Emeralds will be utterly useless against Dark Solstice."

"What?!"

"He's going after the source...the source of power for your precious Emeralds!"

Shadow's mind immediately made the connection. He remembered when they had to stop the Chaos Emeralds during the Space Colony ARK incident. There was only one way.

"Rouge, this is Shadow!" Amy, Sonic, and Shade all looked at the beaten hedgehog. "Their leader is after the Master Emerald!"

"What?!" Amy and Sonic's shock had them turning back to Shadow. Shade hissed softly before disappearing behind his invisibility cloak.

"Shoot! If he's after the Master Emerald, then that means...Knuckles..."

"_Are you sure about this Shadow?"_

"Yes! They're trying to get the Master Emerald so that we can't use the Chaos Emeralds," Shadow groaned and held his side as a spike of pain tore through his body. He was losing consciousness. "Get to Angel Island! We'll meet you there soon!"

"_Shadow, are you okay? You sound—,"_

Shadow turned off the radio and pressed his forehead against the ground. "Damn it...I should have seen this coming..." Shadow struggled to stay conscious, but everything soon faded in front of him.

_Doom..._

* * *

Sonic and Amy rushed over to Shadow. The blue hedgehog shook his head while Amy looked distraught. "Come on, let's get him back to the workshop..." Sonic knelt down to pick up Shadow off of the ground. The air began colder as Tails made a landing next to the three hedgehogs. "We've got to get to Angel Island fast after dropping him off."

* * *

**A/N: So, hopefully the second chapter isn't too bad I enjoy writing the shorter chapters, but I worry that they never have enough/come out rushed. But I enjoy writing the chapters of the story like levels of a game. Maybe that's a bad thing? I don't know what I'm doing xD**


	3. Assault on Angel Island

Sonic stared over Shadow as he lied unconscious in bed. The faker had overexerted himself too long with his limiters off. "Sheesh. I thought Knuckles was hardheaded."

"Sonic, are you sure about leaving Shadow behind," Amy asked. She had no protest over watching the workshop while Tails and Sonic left to stop Dark Solstice. She only worried about how Shadow would react when he's missed the fight.

"We can't wait for him to wake up. You said he's been pushing himself all day." Sonic flashed a smirk and shook his head. "Big guy just needs a nap."

The speakers crackled and squealed to life. Both hedgehogs cringed and made a mental note to have Tails replace his speakers. _"All preparations are ready Sonic! I'm ready to head to Angel Island when you are!"_

Sonic placed his hand on Amy's shoulder. The pink hedgehog inwardly cheered with joy as she stared up at the blue hedgehog. "Watch after him, okay Amy? We'll be back as quick as possible."

"Don't worry about me." Amy smiled brightly at Sonic and patted his hand, "Go, hurry!"

Sonic smirked and then dashed out of the room, leaving Amy to watch over Shadow.

Sonic reappeared in the hanger and hopped onto the wing of the Tornado. Tails kicked on the engine and immediately started to race down the runway. "Any word from Knuckles?"

"None yet," Tails replied as they cleared the hanger and took off out the side of the cliff wall. "But then again I'm not sure how well he understood the directions I left for him on how to use that radio!"

"We'd better hurry to Angel Island then buddy!"

"Not a problem Sonic! We'll get there before you know it!"

The Tornado soared into the darkening sky as the clouds rumbled with thunder.

* * *

At the Altar of the Emeralds, Knuckles had punched back several Dark Soldiers, squashed dozens of Parasites, knocked a number of Dark Volts out of the air, and managed to floor two Dark Brutes around the temple. The echidna stood at the base of the stairs where a pack of Dark Elites approached him, flanked by what appeared to be their purple skinned leader.

Knuckles jumped out of the way of the first Elite's strike with its honor guard's staff. He sprung off the ground and slammed his fist through the face of the alien. The creature shrieked and flew back across the ground. Knuckles spun to avoid another strike and lunged at the Elite. In a blink, the creature was gone. Knuckles turned towards the rest of the Elites, just as his missing target appeared next to them to regroup.

The leader raised its arm up. The Dark Elites fell in silence and stepped out of the way of their master. Knuckles sneered and slammed his fists together, ready for the challenge. "So, I get the boss man now huh?"

The leader snapped his arm out and started firing lasers from the twin barrels from his wrist blaster. Knuckles dove for cover behind some of the fallen ruins.

"Can't fight me one-on-one huh?! Thought so coward!" Knuckles readied himself to back up his bravado.

In a flash, the alien dashed across the clearing and kicked its claw straight through the ancient stone and into Knuckles' back. The echidna hit the ground just at the foot of the stairs with a pained groan. His back throbbed with pain from such a powerful blow. The alien dashed in front of Knuckles in an instant. Before he could react, Knuckles had his throat locked in an iron grip that lifted him off the ground.

"Champion of Angel Island, know that your end comes at the hands of Dark Solstice." Knuckles threw two punches at the leader's head, both he avoided easily. Solstice then hurled the echidna up and through the air. Knuckles landed at the top of the shrine, just in front of the Master Emerald. Knuckles' head spun as oxygen started to return to it. With a being as strong as himself and as fast as Sonic, Knuckles knew he was be in over his head. As Dark Solstice marched up the stairs of the shrine, several fighter class ships flew overhead. Dark clouds covered the sky above Angel Island, and blow it, while several advanced aerial ships surrounded the floating landmass. "Angel Island now belongs to the Dark Arms..."

"Over my dead—GAH!" Solstice kicked Knuckles across the shrine and glared at the red echidna.

"Choose your wording carefully Champion. Your death will come, but I shall allow you to witness your Master Emerald passing into my control." Solstice slowly reached out to the large gem. Knuckles started to get off the ground. He refused to let anyone abuse the Master Emerald's power.

The sky thundered as two of the Dark Arms' fighters exploded. Solstice and Knuckles looked over as a jet fighter zoomed overhead. The Dark Arm's leader watched as the other fighters took off after it. A fighter as small as that one still had no chance of destroying the carrier ship that Solstice rode in on.

Knuckles lunged up at Solstice's head. The alien snapped around and blocked Knuckles' punch with a rounded energy shield that sprung from its other wrist device. Solstice swung his arm and threw Knuckles back to the other end of the shrine. The echidna landed on his feet, but still slid back to a stop.

"Come then," Solstice challenged. He motioned his three fingered hand towards Knuckles to welcome the attack.

Knuckles rolled forward in a ball at Solstice's feet. The alien easily side stepped the assault. Knuckles rolled to one of the pillars of the altar, rebounded off of it, and spun rapidly at Dark Solstice. The echidna broke out in full speed, spinning like a devastating drill. Solstice sidestepped again in the blink of an eye. Knuckles soared past the alien leader and landed at the top of one of the broke pillars surrounding the shrine. One of the Dark Arms fighters exploded behind Knuckles, reflecting the intensity of the scowl he wore on his face.

Dark Solstice's purple eyes glinted with amusement as his cape blew against the increasing chilled winds.

Knuckles dove off the pillar like a bolt of lightning. The force alone was enough to blow half of the already broken pillar to pieces. The echidna cut through the air in a red streak and hit Dark Solstice with full force. The alien leader had raised an energy shield to block the attack just in time. The force nearly destroyed the device, and slid the two combatants across the shrine's floor. Dark Solstice's clawed feet dug into the stone as he strained under the force of Knuckle's strength.

In a flash, Dark Solstice brought his free arm up like a rocket slamming into Knuckles' stomach. The punch knocked the wind out of him, and launched the echidna into the air. Solstice's gauntlet sparked with electricity, which also coursed through Knuckles as he came crashing onto the ground. The echidna spasmed gently as Solstice shut off the current to his gauntlet.

The alien leader chuckled cruelly before his gaze shifted up to the approaching jet. It was coming for him directly. Solstice refused to budge as the jet jackknifed upwards to avoid a crash. The pilot ejected from the cockpit at the last possible second and flipped through the air.

Rouge landed at the top of the stairs to the Master Emerald. Her eyes cut through stone as she glared at Dark Solstice. The air blew coldly across the two combatants.

"Stay out of this, Thief."

"I'm sorry, but I can't just let anyone put their slimy claws on the Master Emerald. That block-head behind you being the only exception." Rouge stared at Knuckles as he lied unconscious. Her eyes softened for him, but changed in the instant it took for her to stare back at Solstice.

"Where is Shadow," Solstice asked. Rouge shifted under the question. When someone asked for Shadow, it was never a good thing. "I figure if his flunky were here to greet me, he can't be far behind..."

"Sorry you have to settle for second best, but Shadow isn't coming."

Dark Solstice laughed and readied his wrist blaster, "Who said you were in the running?"

Rouge snapped. She shot forward and whipped her leg across with enough force to break every bone in Solstice's face. The alien leader ducked under the strike and threw a punch at Rouge. The nimble bat managed to swoop under the strike and counter with an upward kick. Her foot bounced off of Solstice's chest armor like a weak paper airplane. Rouge winced as a throbbing pain shot through her foot. She looked up just as Solstice reached for her throat. Rouge knocked the creature's claw out of the way with her hands and flew back to get her distance from him.

Solstice took aim as Rouge fell back. When he opened fire, Rouge dashed to cover on the other side of the Master Emerald. Solstice stopped firing when the gem came into his line of fire. Rouge circled around quickly before driving her spiraling foot into Dark Solstice's gut. The blow landed with a satisfying result. Solstice flew across the shrine, and down at the feet of his Elites and Soldiers several meters away.

Rouge quickly turned to Knuckles since she had a moment to spare. She tried to shake him awake, "Come on Knucklehead, wake up!"

Dark Solstice growled furiously as he hopped to his feet. His forces expressed concern, but did nothing to move towards their master. The alien dashed towards the shrine with incredible speed.

Rouge snapped her head when she felt a gust of wind blow against her from the stairs. She saw Solstice standing like a pillar of rage before her.

"Shoot," Rouge snapped. She jumped with Knuckles out of the way as Solstice opened fire. Rouge successfully got away with using the Master Emerald as a shield once again. "Come on Knuckles...wake up already!"

Solstice hurtled over the Emerald and threw his foot down where Rouge was. The agile bat quickly sprung away and threw Knuckles forward to avoid the attack. Solstice's foot smashed through the ground, shattering stone. He followed up with a back hand with enough strength to lift Rouge off her heels. Rouge flipped back onto her hands and landed in a crouch. The side of her face throbbed hard where Solstice smacked her.

"I warned you to stay out of this," Solstice reminded as he aimed his blasters.

"Yeah, well I don't listen to creeps like you!" Rouge spread her wings and took flight as Dark Solstice opened fire. She flew off the shrine and used the pillars for cover. She moved down when she realized the blaster fire was tearing through the aged stone.

Rouge grabbed one of the falling stones before she dashed through the air. While she moved from cover, she chucked the rock at the alien leader's head. Solstice ducked under the stone, and immediately adjusted his sights to start firing upon Rouge again.

"Shoot! You're just a pain aren't you?" Rouge was forced to ground herself at the base of the temple where she would be out of Solstice's sight. "Okay, come on Rouge...how can you kick this guy's—," The spy cut herself off when she felt an invisible rush blow past her.

Standing in front of Rouge was Dark Solstice, towering over the treasure hunter. Rouge froze with panic as her mind tried to wrap around Solstice's speed. The alien leader snapped his elbow out and latched Rouge's throat in a solid grip. Rouge choked and kicked her feet to attempt and break free. Her legs couldn't reach as Solstice held her out at his arm's full length.

"You should not underestimate your foes." Solstice raced both himself and Rouge to the top of the shrine, and took whatever breath that was left out of Rouge's lungs. "Now, tell me...where is Shadow the Hedgehog...?" The alien drew in his face as he spoke down to Rouge. It brought him close enough for Rouge to swing her leg up and crack him across the face with her foot. Solstice howled and stumbled in pain. The alien loosed his grip enough for Rouge to break free and gain some distance while she caught her breath. She knew it was pointless with how quickly Solstice could move. She knew she stood no chance against speed that could rival Shadow or Sonic's. Solstice knew this too as he rubbed his throbbing jaw. "Very well then, I'll force the information out of you!"

"Not so fast!" Solstice and Rouge looked up as a spinning blue orb came racing down to the ground. Sonic rolled and did a rather impressive flip onto his feet as he stared down Dark Solstice. "You're done hurting the people of this planet, creep!"

"Insolent creature, you will address me as Dark Solstice!"

Both Sonic and Solstice dashed towards each other so fast that they both disappeared before Rouge's eyes. Sonic and Solstice collided all across the altar, kicking up dirt and materializing just for a second before vanishing again. Rouge could barely keep up with them both. It was like watching Sonic and Shadow fighting over again.

The two finally broke to a stop in front of the Master Emerald. They had collided together with enough force to send each other skidding back in the opposite direction. Solstice's shoulders heaved a bit. Rouge swore that he looked tired. Sonic on the other hand was ready to go as he displayed by bouncing up and down on his feet. Rouge smiled at the fact that Sonic had the advantage.

"Not too bad creep," Sonic's remark had Solstice growling. The blue hedgehog threw a few quick punches to show off. "You got a few good hits in, but I'm still ready to go!" Rouge shook her head. If Shadow were here, Solstice would be destroyed already.

"Attack," Solstice commanded. Sonic tilted his head, as did Rouge until she turned to the other end of the Island. Solstice's forces, Dark Elites, Soldiers, and Brutes all rushed their location.

"Well that's not fair," Sonic snapped furiously.

"All's fair," all heads turned to the new voice. Knuckles had recovered and stood just in front of the Master Emerald, which was glowing brightly under the echidna's hand. The three other combatants shared mixed looks of confusion, worry, and fear. "Master Emerald, I call on you, cast out the Dark Arms!" The Master Emerald radiated with power. Dark Solstice glared at Knuckles and hissed furiously.

The Master Emerald's power was unleashed all at once. Dark Solstice howled out as he and his forces were blown out of Angel Island by the incredible energy. The blast had left a green glowing after effect all over Angel Island. Sonic, Rouge, and Knuckles were completely unaffected by the blast somehow. Sonic stared at the glowing streams of light that flowed around them. He swore they gave off the same feeling as Chaos Energy.

Dark Solstice flailed as he plummeted out of the skies, with Angel Island disappearing in the blankness of the clouds while his ships were all blown out of the air.

Sonic and Rouge were in complete awe at the display of power. They looked over at Knuckles, who still stood next to the Master Emerald. His arrogance at that moment was enough to make even Sonic look humble in comparison.

* * *

Tails had only just landed before the attack went off, yet he and the Tornado were unaffected by the blast. "Whoa...that was awesome..." The two-tailed fox stared out at the shrine that was glowing brighter than any star in the sky. The green lights even reached Tails, who landed on the other side of the floating island. Its power was undeniable.

Tails looked down at the Chaos Emerald he had with him. It was glowing brightly, radiating from the power the Master Emerald exuded. He only saw the Chaos Emeralds react in such a way when Sonic or Shadow would draw on their energy for their super states.

* * *

"Knuckles, that was..." Sonic looked at his hands while the glowing energy flowed around them like a gentle stream. "That was...that...I don't know what that was."

"Tell me about it." Rouge wasn't sure what else to say about what she just saw. Knuckles walked up to them both, his hand at his wounded side. The bat swore Knuckles had never looked more attractive before in his life. "What was that?"

"That was the power of the Master Emerald," Knuckles replied with the most arrogant smirk on his face.

"Yeah, but how did _you_ use it?"

"I drew from my connection to the Master Emerald," Knuckles said. "But being the source of power for the Chaos Emeralds, the Master Emerald is more difficult to draw from. But as you can tell, it's results are undeniable."

"What if they come back," Sonic asked. "Think you can keep drawing on it like this?"

"The Master Emerald is casting a barrier around Angel Island right now you idiot!" Sonic rolled his eyes. Like he was supposed to know anything about the Master Emerald or how it worked. Knuckles was the goon who spent all his time sitting in front of it. "It will keep that Dark Solstice creep out from the Island, and destroy any ships trying to enter."

"And this barrier will defend against anything," Rouge asked. Her eyes moved over to the Master Emerald as it burned brightly with power. Rouge swore the Master Emerald never looked better before in her life.

"And it will allow you all to come in and out freely," Knuckles stated. Sonic turned to his friend. He wondered why Knuckles wouldn't come with them. Knuckles stared back and then looked over at the Master Emerald. "If the barrier is to stay up around Angel Island, its Guardian has to stay with it."

Neither of them liked the fact that Knuckles couldn't come with them. They both knew that it was necessary to defend Emerald Island and the Master Emerald against the Dark Arms at all costs. "So now all we have to do is hunt down the Chaos Emeralds," Sonic stated.

"Which Solstice will be after now, since he can't get the Master Emerald."

"You really think he survived that fall?!"

Rouge rolled her eyes at Knuckles, "If there's one thing I've learned, it's that you should never underestimate an evil mastermind's escape plans." Sonic rubbed the side of his head and cleared his throat nervously. He was guilty of thinking his mortal nemesis was dead a few times over before learning to just expect Eggman to return no matter what. "Since he can't stop the Chaos Emeralds with the Master Emerald, he's going to try to get the Chaos Emeralds instead to keep them away from us."

"Great." Sonic gave a dull groan at the runaround. "First we needed to get the Chaos Emeralds, then the Master Emerald, and now the Chaos Emeralds _again_."

"Actually, that will be the easy part," Knuckles said. "You can bring the Chaos Emeralds here, where they'll be safe from Solstice and his army. And I can use the Master Emerald to help you all track the Chaos Emeralds by drawing on their connection to each other."

"You can do that," Rouge asked in wonder.

"_You_...can do this?" Knuckles glared at Sonic's rather obvious disbelief by the statement.

"Guys!" The three turned as Tails ran up with the blue Chaos Emerald. The gem was glowing brilliantly in his hand. "I've never seen the Chaos Emerald react like this..."

"It's because it's reacting with the Master Emerald," Knuckles stated, smirking at his old rival. Sonic pouted at Knuckles' display of coolness. "It's helping strengthen the barrier around Angel Island. And more Emeralds will make tracking the others that much easier."

"Well get to tracking them Knucklehead!" Knuckles gave a weary sigh at Sonic's rudeness before taking the Chaos Emerald from Tails. Knuckles walked over and held the gem up in front of the larger one. The Chaos Emerald lifted out of Knuckles' hand and floated above the Master Emerald. It began rotating slowly counter clockwise around the Master Emerald. Knuckles looked over at Sonic smugly. "...Okay, it's kind of cool."

"We can use the Master Emerald to track the Chaos Emeralds, and between Eggman and GUN, we should be able to keep an eye on the Dark Arms' movements too," Rouge stated. Sonic smiled and bobbed his head in agreement. His confidence skyrocketed after their first victory against the Dark Arms.

"Things are finally looking up," Tails exclaimed joyfully.

"_Rouge...do you copy...?"_ The bat held her hand up to her ear and tapped on the receiver to clear out the static. She turned the dial and strengthen the signal. She swore she had heard Omega's voice. _"Rouge, this is Omega. I have located a Chaos Emerald. Dark Arms resistance minimal. Assistance required in following coordinates."_

"I need to get back to my jet," Rouge said to the boys. "Omega said he found a Chaos Emerald."

"We'll keep in touch if we find any others," Sonic affirmed. The blue hedgehog's earpiece began to pick up on a signal as well.

"_Sonic? Sonic it's Amy. Tails' radio picked up on an emergency distress call from Doctor Eggman. Shadow heard and took off after Eggman said it would deal a critical blow to Dark Solstice."_

"Roger that Amy," Sonic sighed and lowered his head. He caught Rouge's worried gaze. Of course her government issue gear picked up on Tails' radio frequency. "Don't worry, I'll track him down." Sonic tapped the receiver off and looked over to the worried bat. "Amy said Shadow took off to help Eggman."

"Alright, so we let Shadow help Eggman." The idea itself seemed to baffle Team Sonic. Rouge narrowed her eyes, "Listen, Shadow knows better how to deal with Eggman than any of you. And the Doctor knows better than to double cross Shadow. If Eggman needs help, then he needs help. If it's a trap, he won't spring it on Shadow." Tails and Knuckles understood, but clearly were not fond of the idea. Sonic was the stubborn one who did not understand, or like it. "Look, if Shadow wants to waste his time helping Eggman instead of looking for the Chaos Emeralds, then let him. We have to search for the Emeralds, got it?"

Rouge pulled out a remote and tapped on a few buttons. Her jet came soaring down at the bottom of the shrine and idled for her. The side hatch opened, and the engine ran silently. Rouge barely had to raise her voice. "I'm going to help Omega. You guys wait for another reading on the Chaos Emeralds."

"You can count on us Rouge," Sonic said. The bat nodded as the hatch closed behind her. While the jet took off, Sonic shook his head. "I'm still going after Shadow. I don't trust that Eggman."

"So you're not going to listen to Rouge," Tails asked.

"I think she's right, that Shadow knows how to handle Eggman. But I don't think that Eggman is above using Shadow." Sonic recognized his rival's obsession with stopping the off-shoot of the Black Arms. Eggman wouldn't be above using that obsession to his advantage.

* * *

Once she was out of sight from Team Sonic, Rouge slouched her shoulders heavily. In truth, she had no idea what Shadow was thinking. Why bother helping the Doctor during a time like this? Eggman may have had blood ties to Maria and Professor Gerald, but the Doctor was nothing like the people Shadow knew. The loyalty he held towards that man was baffling.

Rouge stepped over into the pilot's seat and took control of the jet. She saw a blinking light on the communications speaker. She tapped the button and opened the radio line to GUN Headquarters. _"This is GUN Commander Tower, report in Agent Rouge."_

"E-123 Omega has located a Chaos Emerald and is encountering Dark Arms resistance. I'm moving in to aid him and secure the Emerald."

* * *

Commander Tower stood at the head of his command center. He stared down at Rouge's coordinates on the map as the blinking dot began to move across the continent. "Understood Agent Rouge. Where is Shadow? Is he with you?"

* * *

Rouge hesitated. GUN always watched Rouge a little more closely after her first adventures with Doctor Eggman and Shadow. They never fully trusted her after that. Even offering Shadow a position as a GUN agent was only to keep a closer eye on The Ultimate Life Form. If they discovered Shadow abandoned the hunt for the Chaos Emeralds to help Eggman, they could try him as a criminal for treason.

"He's incapacitated and being cared for by Sonic and company. It'll just be me and Omega."

* * *

Tower rubbed his forehead, "Understood. Tower out." The Commander pressed the button to cut communications.

"That means we're up, yeah?" The Commander nodded as he turned to his elite strike team of three, the best squad available in GUN. They all wore customized GUN combat gear, all stylized to match their specializations. The muscle, demolitions and explosives expert extraordinaire, Wade the Wolverine. Their marksman, the speedster who had recently reached the top recorded speed set by Shadow himself, Cassidy the Cheetah. And last but not least, the leader of the squad, a former top agent of GUN, Oxford the Owl. Cassidy snickered and crossed her arms over her chest. "Can't say I'm surprised. It was only a matter of time before we suspected Rouge to act flaky."

"There's no guarantee that Agent Rouge has left the belfry," Oxford stated, correcting Cassidy quickly. "We're going to assess her situation before making a judgment."

"Waffles are disgusting with garlic," Wade chimed with a dim-witted tone. "But taste GREAT as the crust of a pizza!" Oxford and Cassidy both just stared at their partner. "I'm gonna charge my next bomb with that Chaos Emerald!"

"Enough," the Commander snapped. "Oxford is right, you're to watch and wait, but no direct action is to be taken unless it is clear that Agent Rouge is acting against GUN. You're the best team GUN has. APEX Squad, you have your duty. Ensure that Agent Rouge gets the Chaos Emerald, and brings it back to us, and no one else."

"You can count on us, Commander Tower." Oxford saluted the Commander, followed by Wade and Cassidy. After being dismissed, APEX Squad headed towards the armory. Oxford's smile vanished into a hardened scowl. "Prepare for worst case counter scenario."

"Don't trust Rouge after all, huh?"

"I believe she's working with GUN, I just don't believe she's working in the best interest of GUN." Oxford looked over to Cassidy, and then to Wade, "Shadow is the same, but Rouge tries her best to disguise it. After all, it's best never to trust a spy."

"But ain't you a spy, boss?" Oxford rolled his eyes at Wade's question. Cassidy smirked as the three of them walked into the armory.

* * *

**Little behind in posting, I know xP Honestly, I had this chapter prepped and ready to go, but just had to make a few minor edits here and there. Also I've been updating my vlog like crazy (two days in a row is crazy to me)**

**Anywho, again, any critiques, advice, and/or praise would be helpful! I'm kind of up in the air about my writing style to be honest. I'm not sure if it's good or bad anymore! My mind is too spazzy.**

**Hope you enjoyed the new chapter!**


	4. GUN's Ultimatum

"Of course, let's choose the swamps to look for a Chaos Emerald," Rouge muttered. She thanked her luck that she could still pilot around in her jet while looking for Omega. However, between the Dark Arms and all the tangled mess of the swamp, patching in radio communications with Omega was proving to be impossible. "Omega, come in, this is Rouge, repeat, this is Rouge." Static. Rouge adjusted the frequency a small bit, "Omega, do you copy? This is Rouge. Come in Omega."

Rouge shook her head and focused on flying over a different section of swamp. "Come on Omega...where are you?" A small explosion went off to Rouge's left. The bat turned her attention to the mushroom cloud that rose out of the swamp. "I can only hope that's him." Rouge drifted towards the source of the explosion.

* * *

Shell casings flew out from Omega's arms as his hands fired hundreds of rounds into the oncoming horde of GUN robots. "Inferior consumer models!"

The GUN robots were torn through like paper under the hail of heavy bullets that Omega rained on them. The Shield Hunters managed to take Omega's barrage, and return fire blindly. The advanced mech rotated his arms and changed the barrels from his hands. The moment of cease fire drew the GUN bots to examine the situation with caution. Omega changed the silence in the swamp by firing several missiles into the remaining numbers. Explosions and fire consumed the remaining Hunters, and even turned the shielded robots into scrap.

Five more heavily armored mechs rolled through the flame and wreckage on heavy treads. Omega's eyes scanned the enemies before he fired more missiles at them. The mechs weaved through the missiles and fired back with fully automatic, armor piercing rounds. Omega remained in place and launched more missiles as the bullets flew past him, and punched through even the most dense trees around him.

One of the robots was hit dead on with Omega's missile and destroyed in an instant. Omega changed his weapons again. His right hand converted back to its default state, while his left shifted to a more close range firearm. Omega thrust his hand through the chest of the first GUN robot's midsection. The hole sparked around Omega's hand until it exploded. The remaining three robots circled the fiery remains and scanned for movement.

Omega propelled out of the flames and blasted another robot's upper half into bits. The other two droids immediately returned fire. Omega used his thrusters to move to the side as the bullets tore through the remains of the GUN bot. The two that remained traced Omega's movements until the last of the E-Series robots rushed one. Omega impaled one of the robots' midsection with his sharpened fingers, and used its body as a shield from the last robot's fire. His left hand shifted back to a missile launcher and pushed against the robot shield. Omega fired the missile, which carried the deactivated robot into the last one.

The missile explosion shook the ground and created a large tower of smoke that shot up above the tree line. Omega spun his head around to do a full scan of the immediate area. Nothing remained except smoke, fire, and destroy hunks of metal.

"_Omega? Come in Omega."_ The robot's head stopped spinning. _"This is Rouge the Bat. Tell me that pillar of smoke is you..."_

"Affirmative Rouge. All GUN attackers have been terminated."

* * *

Rouge groaned and face palmed hard. "Omega, tell me you didn't kill anyone..." Rouge and Shadow both had their ears chewed off after the last incident. Shadow could not have cared less, but Rouge had built a stable career around her time with GUN. She didn't need more heat from those two.

"_Negative. GUN attackers were inferior model robots."_ Rouge was relieved to hear that much at least. _"GUN forces in the area are minimal. Dark Arms presence is smaller, but both will likely arrive in force for the Chaos Emerald."_

"Copy that Omega. I'll try to get in touch with the officer in charge and try to get him to work with us to get the Chaos Emerald. But we're taking it back to Angel Island for safeguarding, okay?"

"_Roger that. I cannot be held accountable for—,"_

"I know, I know, I'll make contact as quickly as possible. Let me know as soon as you locate the Emerald, got it? Rouge out." She cut radio contact with Omega, then tapped in the normal hailing frequency for GUN operatives. "This is Agent Rouge the Bat calling on any available GUN forces in the area. Does anyone copy, over?"

"_This is Sergeant Pierce. This is Agent Rouge is it?"_ Rouge recognized the British accent. She also noticed a hint of condescension too.

"Yes, Sergeant Pierce. Are you the officer in charge?"

"_I suppose so yes. We lost contact with our General hours ago. Commander Tower has put me in charge until contact can be reestablished. I hope I'm not being rude, Agent Rouge, but what are you doing out here?"_

"I'm here hunting for the Chaos Emerald," Rouge answered. It was a stupid question that didn't need to be asked in the first place. Why else would GUN be in an area like this to begin with.

"_Commander Tower informed me that—,"_ Rouge waited for an answer. The radio transmission was coming in perfectly. _"What can I do for you Agent Rouge?"_

Something was wrong. She had been set up too many times to not suspect some kind of foul play. "My friend E-123 Omega said he encountered resistance from your robots. I think cooperation would be best for us all given the stakes."

"_That is precisely why Commander Tower has issued that GUN will not be aiding him."_

She knew it. "What exactly do you mean, Sergeant?"

"_We're not helping anyone who is not an agent of GUN, nor anyone who will not offer aid to us. The Chaos Emeralds will be safest with us, not in the hands of one of Doctor Eggman's robots."_

"Omega has helped GUN out countless times! He's as much of an ally as Sonic!"

"_Which is why anyone who does not comply with us in our hunt for the Chaos Emeralds will be treated as an enemy."_ Rouge could barely believe her ears. GUN had never been this extreme before under any circumstances. They worked alongside Sonic and company during the war with Black Doom. What about this invasion was so different? _"Be sure to pass the message along to Agent Shadow. If you or he act against this direct order, Commander Tower will treat you as traitors, and you _will_ be hunted down for your crimes."_

"Roger that." Rouge would have punched the radio to bits if she didn't need it. She had half a mind to fly back to GUN Headquarters and give Commander Tower a piece of her mind. But she knew she had to warn Shadow. She quickly punched in the frequency for their private line, "Shadow, come in Shadow?"

"_Rouge."_

Their transmission was full of static, but Rouge was just relieved to get in contact with her hedgehog partner. "Shadow, listen, Tower just...I don't know what he's thinking. He's ordered all agents to gather the Chaos Emeralds and deliver them back to Headquarters. Anyone who doesn't is considered an enemy, you, me, Sonic, everyone." The threat felt more real coming from her own lips. She hated it. Why would the Commander give such an extreme order?

What worried her most was when Shadow didn't answer.

Rouge shook her head slowly. She knew what Shadow's choice was already. When it came to humanity, Shadow had a long string of betrayals. She knew he wouldn't handle this well.

"_Understood Rouge. Is that all?"_

Rouge sighed. "Yeah...that's all..."

"_What are you going to do?"_ Rouge was taken back by the question. She closed her eyes as her heart sank a bit.

"What do you expect...?"

"_Don't do anything hasty."_

"That's my line big guy...Rouge out." She closed the radio off and heaved back into her chair. Would she really betray GUN? How could she even consider it? But she knew Sonic and the others were the best choice when it came to giving the Chaos Emeralds to _anyone_. It wasn't that GUN was untrustworthy, but nobody besides Sonic or Shadow could go Super State. That's the one constant that saved the world dozens of times over.

She knew what needed to be done.

* * *

Omega marched through the marshes. The terrain was nothing for the robotic creation. He would have waited for Rouge to join him at the battlefield he cleared, but logically it made more sense to go after the Chaos Emerald before both the Dark Arms and GUN arrived with reinforcements to secure it.

"_Omega, do you have a lock on the Chaos Emerald?"_

"Negative. My scanners are unable to pinpoint its location in the swamp."

"_Can you send me the coordinates for where it could be?"_

"Roger." His processor immediately downloaded the data straight into Rouge's navigation system. "I will be there shortly to assist."

"_I'd appreciate it if you would go faster than a slug."_

"Confirmed." Omega activated his back thrusters and carried him through the swamp faster than his slow, heavy footsteps.

* * *

Rouge dropped her jet down in a wide clearing of the swamp that wasn't completely covered in trees. Most of the ground had at least an inch of water flooding over it. Many of the trees were knocked over onto the ground or slanted slightly, with moss and vines hanging from them.

Under normal circumstances, Rouge would only have had issue with the swamp itself. Unfortunately, the Dark Arms and GUN forces were already in the full swing of fighting each other. The Dark Arms were comprised mostly of Dark Soldiers and Volts, with a few of their shock troopers, the Dark Brutes, and a handful of Elites leading them. GUN's forces ranged from Hunters, Beetles, Hornets, human soldiers in tanks and jeeps, and topping it all off were two F-6t Big Foot walkers, and one B-3x Hot Shot.

Between the two warring forces, Rouge was surprised that the action had not blown the whole swamp away.

"Well this is a big mess..." Rouge just accepted the worst and jumped into the fray.

When she landed, two Dark Soldiers turned on her with blasters ready. She shot past them both while she spun like a top, slamming her foot against both aliens. The Dark Soldiers flew in opposite directions from where they stood. Rouge sprinted forward right into the heart of the crossfire. Her senses told her the Chaos Emerald was close somewhere.

Rouge snapped her gaze towards two GUN soldiers, who hesitated when they saw her. It was a relief not to have both armies shooting at her, but she knew what needed to be done.

She turned as a large black fist came crashing down on her. Rouge flipped backwards to avoid the Dark Brute's punch and landed on its forearm. She rushed up the length of the muscular limb and sprung off its shoulder to fly through the air.

The Chaos Emerald was close.

Rouge looked down, where her senses were going nuts. She dropped and corkscrewed her way to the swamp floor. When she hit the ground, she disappeared under what looked to be a few inches of water. The few who witnessed the disappearing act were equally baffled by it.

Rouge was pulled to a stop once she was submerged in water. She could hardly see past her own nose in the murky lake. Keeping a later shower in the forefront of her mind, Rouge began to swim around in hopes of catching a lead.

She continued to follow her senses around the dark water until a patch of light managed to shine through into her foggy sights. She followed the light up and broke through the surface with a deep gasp for what little air there was. Rouge nearly cracked her head on the surface of the rock. It was pure luck that there was a small bubble of air for her.

After catching her breath, the bat ducked back into the water. With a fresh amount of oxygen in her brain, Rouge's senses were sharpened.

She dove deeper into the waters. Her legs kicked as hard as they could. Rouge found a small tunnel that went even deeper below the ground. The Chaos Emerald was through the tunnel.

With hope in mind, Rouge swam into the tunnel. It was small, but just wide enough for her to move through.

It wasn't long until Rouge made it to the end of the tunnel, which led straight into an untouched cavern. She walked up on dry land, water dripping from every inch of her as she stared directly at the Emerald that lay across the ground like a discarded toy. The sight of the emerald just laying across the ground so carelessly was enough to offend the world renowned treasure hunter.

Rouge looked around the cavern as she approached the Chaos Emerald. The only entrance was the one she came through. "You always end up in the strangest places..." She picked the emerald up and felt a rush of power flowing through her arm. Rouge wished she could harness their power like Shadow could, but the emerald's beauty was unmatched. That made up for it.

"_Rouge, I have made it to the location of the Chaos Emerald. GUN and Dark Arms are battling each other. Please advise."_

She knew that was Omega's polite way of asking for permission to attack GUN. She couldn't risk it. "Help GUN out, but defend yourself if you need to. Just don't hurt any personnel on site though Omega."

"_Roger. I will do what I can."_

She knew what _that_ meant too.

An explosion shook the cavern as one of its walls was completely broken down. Rouge turned as three figures walked through the dust, with a colossal mech behind them. She recognized them all.

The leader of Team APEX, Oxford, stepped forward with his wings behind his back and a smirk on his beak. "Dear Rouge. It's been too long."

"Really? I was thinking the opposite." Rouge noted the two others of APEX. Both Wade and Cassidy had a history that made Rouge's skin crawl. Her eyes quickly went to the Diablon that hovered behind them. Unlike when Shadow faced it years ago, the Diablon was no longer a prototype, but still highly expensive and rare for anyone to get their hands on. "I'm guessing Sergeant Pierce is piloting your little friend back there?"

"He's one of the top pilots GUN has," Oxford explained. "And he was looking for a promotion onto Team APEX."

"Looks like you're only accepting crazies too," Rouge stated snidely. Cassidy and Wade both scowled, but Oxford's smirk never wavered. Rouge hated the way the owl stared at her like she was some field mouse for him to pick off.

"_Agent Rouge, you know what your orders entail,"_ Pierce said. His voice echoed through the Diablon's speaker and bounced off the cavern walls. _"Give us the Chaos Emerald now. That's an order."_

"Look, no GUN facility can keep these safe from the Dark Arms," Rouge pleaded. "On Sonic and his friends _can_!"

"Sonic and company are not members of GUN, and therefore untrustworthy. Sonic, his friends, nor Shadow could keep the Chaos Emeralds out of the hands of Black Doom, and we have no reason to believe that they could keep them out of the Dark Arms' reach. GUN wants to secure the Emeralds to ensure their safety."

Rouge glared at Oxford during his entire explanation. She hated to admit it, but GUN was not as trustworthy as Sonic and company. They were the ones who saved the world. GUN mostly acted as damage control, when they weren't the problem that was.

"Listen, Sonic and the others have saved the world countless times over. Don't you see that helping us would mean stopping the Dark Arms that much quicker?" Oxford sneered.

"She made her choice, yeah," Cassidy asked. Rouge saw the cheetah's hand going for the pistol strapped to her side.

"It seems she has," Oxford stated. "Well, Rouge dear, our superior officer's are less than inclined to agree. Now hand over the Chaos Emerald."

She had no choice.

Rouge bolted back towards the only exit she had left for her.

APEX moved to the side as the Diablon raised up its arms to reveal two heavy gattling guns mounted to each limb. The size of the guns made Omega's look like pea-shooters.

The Diablon opened fire, with shells ripping through the dirt and trees that would have provided Rouge with cover. She knew she would have to go deep to avoid getting hit by a stray. The bat dove into the water quickly and swam as quickly as she could.

Oxford raised up his wing to signal a cease fire. Pierce complied almost immediately. "Send recording of that back to Commander Tower," Oxford said. "Inform him that Rouge the Bat has gone rogue."

"_Yes sir captain."_

Oxford signaled to Wade, who immediately sprung into the water after Rouge. Cassidy pulled out her dual pistols and sneered before rocketing out of the cavern in a blur. Oxford himself quickly took flight out of the cavern.

Rouge cleared out of the lake twice as quick. Hot pursuit had a way of motivating her. When she took off into the air, bullets and laser fire flew around her. It only took a few seconds of surveying the battlefield before she pinpointed Omega. He had a love of destruction that Rouge never understood. Without delay, she swooped towards Omega.

The robot was covered in Dark Parasites, which tried in vain to bite and wound him, as he mowed through the ranks of the Dark Arms with his built in machine guns. One Dark Soldier armed with a sword charged Omega from behind.

Rouge slammed both feet into the alien's side and threw him off to the side. Omega turned to the commotion behind him. The robot activated a small electrical pulse from his body. The Dark Parasites on his body were charged with several thousand volts, and dropped to the ground like dead flies.

"Omega, take this and run!" Rouge tossed the robot her Chaos Emerald. Omega caught the gem, and swung his heavy arm into the chest of a Dark Soldier who tried to intercept the prize. "Go! Get that to Angel Island now!"

A hail of bullets landed around Rouge. Her reflexes snapped her forward, sliding under Omega's legs. Her heavily armored friend stood tall as his eyes scanned the upper grounds to see their assaulter. "Target acquired." Omega's arm twisted around and shifted to his rocket launcher. He aimed at Cassidy and fired.

The missile cut through the air quickly. Cassidy scowled and disappeared in a blur before the projectile hit.

Omega's head and arm moved to follow the cheetah, who still fired at him. The ground beneath Omega broke up as a new target took up his vision. His sensors lit up with the immediate danger before a hard blow to the midsection had the robot skidding backwards. Omega's heavy legs dug trenches into the dirt, and broke even the thickest roots like they were brittle twigs.

"Omega, run!"

"Negative." Rouge practically screamed her head off. She had to ask herself why she had to deal with the most stubborn teammates in the world. "Heavy resistance in the area. You have a low chance of survival here. My odds are more favorable."

"Ya don't know what you're facin' robo-guy!"

Omega's body spun backwards, legs and head still facing Wade, to throw the Chaos Emerald back at Rouge. She caught it in her hands and looked at Omega with worry.

"Go."

Omega rushed Wade and collided with the large bodied wolverine. Wade slid back, his feet digging back against the ground to stop Omega from pushing him. The wolverine sneered as his body pressed against Omega's. Rouge had heard about Wade's strength, but she never dreamed that he would be able to stand toe-to-toe with Omega. She didn't know many people who could however.

"Don't let this loser beat you Omega! You hear me!"

"Affirmative!" Omega threw his arms up, breaking Wade's grip on him. The robot then threw two hard, heavy punches across the wolverine's face that had his slobber flying all over the place.

Rouge took flight, leaving the two powerhouses to duke it out. The bat immediately cursed under her breath as she fell under fire again. Rouge looked down as saw Cassidy chasing her from the ground. The cheetah's speed was something worth boasting about too. Rouge was an easy target in the air.

The bat dive-bombed from the sky and landed just in front of Cassidy. The cheetah ground herself to a stop before she would have collided with Rouge. The bat swung her foot up, immediately kicking one of Cassidy's pistols into the air. The cheetah quickly aimed with the second pistol and fired at Rouge's head. The treasure hunter followed through her kick and brought her head out of the way of the bullet. Rouge backhanded the pistol in Cassidy's hand to keep her from aiming again. Cassidy swung her claw at Rouge, who yanked her head back. Rouge's eyes caught a good sight of Cassidy's claws, which were as sharp as any knife.

Cassidy brought her pistol back up to aim at the bat. Rouge spun and kicked the cheetah's hand, then used it as a foothold to lift herself into the air and smash her second foot against Cassidy's face. The marksman cried out as she slammed down into the ground, and Rouge used the momentum of her kicks to fly back into the air.

Cassidy scowled, just as her first pistol landed on the ground in front of her.

Rouge closed in on the location of her jet. Her heart pounded in her chest. Just as the ship came into sight, something crashed into Rouge from above. The bat cried out as her attacker slammed her into the ground. Rouge bounced off the ground and rolled herself away. Her ribs ached as she clutched them.

Oxford slowly landed on the ground, his wings outstretched. He brought them back in and crossed them over his chest. Rouge slowly pushed herself off the ground and glared daggers at the owl.

"Leaving so soon?"

"What's GUN going to do with the Chaos Emeralds," Rouge asked.

"No longer your concern." Oxford unfolded his wings and raised them up in a fighting stance. Rouge knew that the arrogant bird loved a good fight. The problem was he was damn good at it. Oxford ranked among the top hand-to-hand fighters in GUN, even above Rouge. "Come on."

Rouge sprinted at Oxford and dove at him with her foot. The owl sidestepped and lightly smacked the back of Rouge's head playfully. The bat spun around and brought her leg up at Oxford's head. The owl used his wing to blow the kick and threw a punch straight at Rouge's face. The bat flipped backwards, narrowly avoiding he first to her face. Rouge flipped back a couple of times to distance herself before focusing her eyes on the owl.

Oxford launched himself forward into a shoulder charge. Rouge raised her arms up to defend herself. The force ended up throwing Rouge backwards, but left her oriented enough to flip back onto her feet. By the time she stopped, Oxford was in front of her again and grabbed her arms with his talons. Before she had time to react, Rouge was thrown over Oxford. Rouge flew through the air before she twisted herself enough to land on her shoulder. She slid through the mud and dirt until she hit a branch that stopped her. She winced in pain, but forced herself up again.

"Remind you of old days, dear Rouge?" The bat scowled and glared daggers a the owl. She had one sparring session years ago and he still would hang it over her head. Rouge hated Oxford's god-complex. He was worse than Eggman. "Come on. Don't you have more for me?"

Before Rouge could remark, Oxford shot forward again. His wings gave him an extra burst of speed, a tactic Rouge often employed. She yanked her head back as Oxford threw a right cross at her. Rouge swung up with her foot and kicked the punch to the side. She followed through and slammed her other foot into Oxford's gut. The owl grunted as his combat suit took the brunt of the blow, but still managed to make him stumble back.

Rouge jumped forward and threw another kick. Oxford blocked and threw another cross. Rouge ducked and swept Oxford's legs out from under him. The owl landed on his side before he quickly rolled out of the way from Rouge's following kicks. The bat scowled and shot at him. Oxford pushed himself off the ground on his wings and caught Rouge's next kick with his talon. The bird of prey threw Rouge's leg to the side and wrapped his talons around her head to slam it down onto the ground.

Rouge suddenly became grateful to be in a swamp, as the ground was soft enough to keep her head from splitting open. She flapped her wings and pushed herself forward to spear Oxford's one leg out off the ground. The owl flipped forward with a startled cry and landed on his back. Rouge circled around and dove down at the ground with her feet as she spun around rapidly like a corkscrew. Oxford rolled to the side as Rouge's foot sunk through the ground. The owl pushed himself up onto his hands and spun around with his feet in the air. He smacked both against Rouge's face before he bent his knees and slammed both feet into the bat's chin.

Rouge cried out as she was launched into the air and spun slowly. The Chaos Emerald flew out of her grasp as she hit the ground. Her eyes drooped, consciousness slowly faded. She stared at the Chaos Emerald longingly. She had to get it to Angel Island.

"You've improved," Oxford admitted as his talons blocked Rouge's sight of the Chaos Emerald. "Commander Tower will want you alive. That much I will comply with. Just to see you put to trial..." Rouge groaned softly as she fell comatose.

Oxford smirked arrogantly before he turned to stare at the Chaos Emerald.

* * *

Omega hated to admit the fierceness of his foe, but the living organism managed to endure as well as he could punish. The difference of course was that Omega did not tire, and his body did not bruise or soften under constant assault. Despite losing his edge slowly, Wade grinned as his shoulders heaved.

"Y-you wanna go paragliding sometime? I feel like you would suck at that!"

"Negative." Omega charged Wade once again. The robot was sidelined and thrown off course. He tore through the ground, but stared back at the attacker. Cassidy sneered before she looked at her partner.

"We have the Chaos Emerald and Rouge. We're pulling out." Omega quickly sat up. Wade and Cassidy both quickly fled before the alarmed robot got back up.

Omega watched as the rest of GUN's forces started to pull back. They left a small number of robots to deal with the remaining Dark Arms in order to cover the humans' escape.

"Scanning..." Omega pulled up his radar and began to scan the area. He was going to locate GUN's base of operations and free Rouge. The best way to track them would be to lock onto the Chaos Emerald's energy signature again. Since it was unearthed, it was easy to pinpoint. Omega wasted no time with the Dark Arms or the remaining GUN forces.

* * *

Rouge began to stir. She felt odd waking up. As she tried to move her limbs, she discovered that they were chained to the ceiling and ground. Rouge quickly looked up and saw that she was hanging in the air. It was crude, and not very government official. She had a bad feeling that there was a reason for it.

She pulled on the chains, but did little more than rattle them. "You're awake, good." Rouge recognized the accented voice. A human officer stepped into the light with his hands behind his back. Pierce was a young man, handsome too even with a burn scar that covered the right side of his face. His eyes were hard and cold. He had several medals pinned to his uniform. Rouge was surprised that the young officer only achieved the rank of sergeant with how many accommodations he had on. "You're due for processing. You'll be shipped back to headquarters with the Chaos Emerald, a prisoner and a traitor to GUN."

"This isn't right! What does GUN want with the Chaos Emeralds anyway? And don't give me that crap about wanting to secure them!" Pierce smiled and walked to a command computer. Rouge knew he wasn't going to talk. She did know that there was something terribly wrong however. Something was wrong with GUN.

"We're preparing for a counterattack. The Dark Arms are going to overwhelm this base completely with their reinforcements." Pierce's fingers flew across the keyboard and pulled up an image of the marching army. Rouge stared in horror at the thousands of aliens that marched towards their location. "We'll need to initiate a total clean slate."

"You're going to destroy the base..."

"Yes, as is protocol for an enemy that takes over any GUN facility to prevent vital information from falling into enemy hands." Pierce's eyes turned to Rouge. She shifted uneasily under the sergeant's gaze. "Unfortunately, we'll be unable to evacuate our newest prisoner in time. It's easier than holding you on trial."

Rouge wrinkled her nose, "You're disgusting..." Her mind shrieked to know why they were doing this, but she knew that she would never get a straight answer.

"And you'll be dead soon. Commander Tower has been informed of your unwillingness to comply with GUN regulations. We're preparing to deal with Shadow soon after. I'm sure once he learns of your death, he'll be eager to avenge you."

Rouge scoffed, "You clearly don't know Shadow." The base rumbled suddenly. Pierce looked startled just as the alarms went off. The bat smirked, "Or Omega."

* * *

Bullets bounced off of Omega's frame as he marched down the halls of the GUN base. He lifted one arm up and began firing his chain gun back at the Hunter robots and tore through them like wet paper. He shifted firearms around and launched a missile down the hall and blew a hole through the door that was locked down.

"_Intruder alert! All personnel, move to stop E-123 Omega! Team APEX, launch countermeasures!"_

Omega stepped through the smoking door and looked up as he was greeted with a dozen Hunters, a few Beetles, and two F-6t Big Foot walkers, and one B-3x Hot Shot model. Omega bent his arms and spun them around as his chain guns clicked in place.

"Challenge assessment..." Omega's processors scanned the threat each enemy posed. After his scans were completed, he aimed at the GUN forces, "Challenge accepted."

Omega began firing into the fray. Several Hunter bots were taken down before they could even aim. Omega aimed at a few of the Beetles as they attempted to circle him. An alarm went off in Omega's head, which drew his attention to the two Big Foot walkers. Their chain guns washed a hail of bullets over the E-series droid. Omega used his arms as shields under the heavy fire. His hands changed around to rocket launchers as his targeting system aimed for their missile compartments. Once they were locked, Omega aimed and fired two rockets from his hands. The rockets flew through the air and hit the walkers just above the cockpits. The rockets detonated the stored missiles, and turned the walkers into flaming heaps.

Omega dashed to the side as the B-3x Hot Shot fired its charged laser cannon at him. He shifted his hands back to the chain guns and fired at the heavily armored mech. The bullets bounced off of its armor. The hatches for the missile launchers opened and immediately began firing on Omega. The robot stopped and locked onto each missile. He fired on them, destroying each one before it could get close to him. The air was thick with explosions, blanketing the room in a cloud of smoke.

The pilot for the Hot Shot frantically checked his scanners, but picked up nothing. His eyes were useless too considering the coverage. A heavy thud shook the frame of the Hot Shot, followed shortly by the hatch being torn off its hinges. The pilot cried out in fear as Omega stood above him and effortlessly lifted him out of the pilot's chair. Omega looked at the human, who quivered with fear, before he tossed the man out onto the floor. The Hot Shot fell over and crashed to the floor with no pilot.

Omega stepped off the mech as the smoke began to settle. The E-series robot turned his head and scanned three additional life forms.

Team APEX stood across the room as the sprinklers turned on in response to the smoke. Oxford smirked at Omega. "You think you stand a chance against the three of us Omega?" The robot's eyes scanned the threat level of APEX. Wade had a pair of electrical gauntlets which would do some serious damage to Omega if he landed a blow. Cassidy was armed with a heavy sniper rifle with armor piercing rounds. Oxford was armed with two hand held firearms that carried some form of solidifying gel, according to Omega's scanners.

"Processing. Threat level high." Omega's head and arms spun around before gleaming at APEX. "This is your only warning. Give Rouge and the Chaos Emerald to me."

Oxford chuckled and shook his head. "The nerve...eliminate this hunk of scrap."

Omega fired immediately on APEX. The three moved out of the way and scattered in various directions. Omega drew his aim towards Cassidy before she could even take aim. The robot's other arm pointed at Wade, who rushed him. Omega unleashed a torrent of flame, that immediately had Wade drawing away. Omega then launched himself at the wolverine and slammed his whole frame against him. Wade cried out and hit the ground rolling.

Omega rolled right over the wolverine and circled around. A moving target was harder to hit. He quickly shifted his arsenal around while his scanners zeroed in on Cassidy. The cheetah sneered as she fired a single round. Omega's processors calculated the trajectory and recommended an appropriate response. The robot quickly stopped just as the bullet whizzed past him. Omega aimed and fired a powerful laser beam at Cassidy. The cheetah dodged, but her long firearm had its barrel sliced off from the laser.

Omega's arm was hit with a heavy substance, which caused his entire torso to spin around. He snapped his other arm in the air and fired his chain gun up at Oxford. The owl dove and swooped forward as he continued to fire the binding gel at Omega. The E-series droid quickly rocketed himself backwards. Both Oxford and Omega fired at each other, with neither landing single shot on the other.

Oxford's guns eventually clicked empty, much to his horror. Omega lifted his other arm and fired from his grenade launcher. The owl dove as quickly as possible, but the explosive detonated in the air and sent Oxford crashing onto the steel floor. Omega dashed at the owl and slammed his heavy frame against him. Oxford cried out and went bouncing across the floor with both of his guns clattering noisily. Omega knew that the gel blasters had a low capacity, thanks to Rouge's information on GUN weaponry.

Omega's sensors suddenly became scrambled as something hit him in the back. He stumbled forward and quickly twisted his body around clockwise. His arm knocked Wade's fist towards the ground, and Omega's second arm smashed the back of the wolverine's head. Wade grunted as his chin hit the floor hard. Omega lifted Wade up by the back of his combat vest and delivered a powerful uppercut that send the explosives expert flying across the room. Wade landed on the hood of a parked jeep, denting the metal and making the whole vehicle bounce under his weight before he rolled onto the floor.

Cassidy dashed across Omega's vision and slammed against him. Omega stumbled and turned to where she had disappeared to, only to be struck again. She was faster than he anticipated. Cassidy continued to sprint over and over, hitting and slamming into Omega. The robot eventually caught just enough of her yellow blur to register her charging him. He activated his electrical pulse just as she slammed into him. Cassidy shrieked as her body coursed with an electrical current that made her fur stand on end. She spasmed and twitched before she was thrown clear of Omega and rolled across the ground in a smoking heap.

Omega then turned on Oxford. The owl clearly had reserves about confronting Eggman's ultimate creation. "Where is Rouge?" Omega stepped forward. Oxford stepped backwards. Omega continued to walk until he cornered the owl against the back wall. The E-series robot lifted up his flame thrower menacingly. "You have five seconds to comply..." Oxford stared at the flamethrower nervously and then at Omega. Of course the robot would have no qualms about carrying out its threats.

"_THE DARK ARMS HAVE INVADED!"_ Omega and Oxford both looked up as the alarms roared to life. They stopped as soon as the power to the entire base was cut off.

When the backup power kicked in, the room was flooded with a red light. Omega looked down, only to see that Oxford escaped.

"Time is running out," Omega told himself. He quickly moved down the nearest hall to look for Rouge.

* * *

Pierce frantically typed away at the command console to ready all available robots and unmanned mechs available to stop the Dark Arms. Rouge knew that the base was lost.

"Oxford! Oxford report in!" Pierce and Rouge both watched as the blinking dot that was Team APEX moved through the base on radar. "Where is he going!?"

"Looks like to the hanger," Rouge stated. She smiled and stared at the back of Pierce's head. They both knew Oxford screwed him. He and his team were getting the hell out of dodge before it was too late. "Where did you station the Diablon again?" Pierce slowly turned and glared at Rouge. The former GUN spy smirked coyly. "As I recall, Oxford has some experience piloting GUN mechs doesn't he?"

"He wouldn't leave without the Chaos Emerald! Even he wouldn't defy GUN like that!"

"The Chaos Emerald can withstand the blast that will destroy this base. Nothing else will, but the Chaos Emeralds are indestructible." Pierce lowered his head. He slammed his fist onto the console. He was loyal to GUN, but like most people he didn't _want_ to die. Oxford's betrayal only made Pierce's untimely doom worse. "I have a way we can escape." Rouge knew she had him. Pierce's face was full of desperation. "Let me down and I can call in my jet and we can escape, you and me, with the Chaos Emerald."

"Help a traitor? Are you insane?!"

"So you _want_ to be here when the base explodes?" Pierce hesitated. He pulled out a pistol and slowly walked up to Rouge.

"If you make a single move, I'll put a bullet between your eyes." Rouge smiled down at the sergeant. The pistol was aimed perfectly at her with a steady hand. Pierce pressed a button on the nearby console, which released the chains around Rouge's legs.

In an instant, Rouge snapped her leg up and kicked the pistol across the room. Pierce took a second to process this until Rouge's legs snapped around his neck and began to squeeze his airway shut. The bat glared daggers at the gasping officer.

"What's this all been about?! What does GUN want with the Chaos Emeralds!? What's Oxford scheming?"

Pierce grunted and desperately tried gasping for air. Rouge tightened her grip around his neck to show she wasn't kidding. "O-Oxford wants y-you and Sh-Shadow o-out of the w-way!"

"Why?"

"T-to s-secure the...Ch-Chaos Emeralds!" Pierce desperately clung to Rouge's legs to get them off. However, her grip was as tight as could be. "G-GUN w-wants them t-to develop super w-weapons!"

"You're kidding," Rouge murmured. Her nose wrinkled with disgust. "Super weapons?"

"T-to defend u-us against...f-forces like th-the Dark A-Arms and...Eggman!" Rouge released her grip and then kicked Pierce across his face. The sergeant spun around and hit the ground in an unconscious, drooling heap.

The front door came crashing down as Omega stepped into the room. Rouge smiled at her friend as he stepped in and snapped her chains with his claws. "I'm so happy to see you big guy."

"We need to evacuate. GUN standard protocol dictates—,"

"Yeah yeah, base blowing up, no time." Rouge rolled her wrists with her new freedom and then pressed a few buttons on her communicator. "We need to get to the hanger. My jet will be there in time...I hope."

"Sensors indicate Team APEX is on their way to the hanger." Rouge smirked at her partner.

"Two birds big guy."

* * *

As two thirds of Team Dark pushed through the base, they blew through countless members of the Dark Arms. Most of their forces comprised of Dark Soldiers and Parasites. Rouge had guessed that the Dark Arms knew this would be a suicide run. They would either kill or prevent all GUN forces from evacuating, ensuring their total destruction. It was crazy, if not effective.

When they finally made it into the hanger, Rouge and Omega watched as Oxford climbed into the cockpit of the Diablon. In his hands was the Chaos Emerald.

"Oxford!" The owl made no response as he closed the hatch to the mech. Both Cassidy and Wade stood in front of their leader and glared daggers at Team Dark. Rouge scowled as the Diablon started up and roared to life. "Crap..."

"Threat level extreme," Omega stated. "Electromagnetic field protects it from all attacks!"

"I know how it works Omega! That's kind of the problem!"

"_You could just surrender peacefully you know. Perhaps even take some of the Dark Arms with you."_

"I will deal with the noisy one," Omega said as he stepped forward. Oxford's laughter filled the hanger through Diablon's speaker.

"_You stupid robot! You can't stand against GUN's most powerful weapon!"_

"I am Omega. I am superior." The robot stopped and stared up at Diablon. "I am the ultimate E-series robot."

"_We'll see about that! Cassidy, Wade, destroy this idiotic thing!"_

Omega turned his head down as both members of APEX rushed him. Rouge shot past Omega and slammed her feet into Wade's gut. The large wolverine was thrown clear as Rouge landed on her hands and knees. She spring boarded off her hands and repeated the attack on Cassidy.

"If you're sure you can take down Diablon, I'll keep these two off your back," Rouge said. She looked at Omega and nodded. The robot gave her a thumbs up, a gesture he picked up from her. Rouge smiled and rushed out of the line of fire between Omega and Diablon.

Omega took aim and fired several rockets at the mech. The electromagnetic shielding blocked all damage and only prompted laughter from Oxford. Omega dashed to the side and switched to his chain guns.

"_Allow me."_ The Diablon raised its arms up and took aim. Its chain guns unleashed a hail of bullets that pierced through everything they hit. Omega focused his return fire on the Diablon's head.

Oxford scowled as the mech began to take damage with the shielding down.

Diablon ceased fire to allow the shields to kick back up. Omega stopped and continued to fire relentlessly at his target.

Rouge jumped in front of Cassidy and swung her foot up. The cheetah blocked with her arm and swung at the former spy. Rouge flipped back onto her feet and launched herself into the air as Wade's fist came crashing down onto the metal floor. His gauntlet made a dent in the flooring. Rouge circled around in the air and speared her feet right into Wade's back. The wolverine crashed into the floor hard. Rouge jumped off of his back and tackled Cassidy to the ground.

Omega switched one hand to his rocket launcher, and fired it upward at the ceiling. The Diablon's head moved up with the missile as it detonated in the rafters above. The metal constructions above started to drop all at once on top of the Diablon. Oxford's screams came over the mech's speakers before the weight brought the weapon to the ground.

The shielding flickered due to the incredible stress. The Diablon used its hands to push itself up as the rafters slid off its back. Omega charged with his thrusters burning at top speeds. Oxford aimed the Diablon's head at Omega and fired the weapon's laser cannon. Omega quickly moved to the side as the laser tore through the flooring. The E-series robot pulled his fist back as he closed in, and then delivered a powerful cross to its head. The force of the blow lifted the Diablon off the ground by a few feet as it crashed on its side. The head sparked as the armor and circuitry was damaged beyond repair. Omega slowly landed on his heavy feet while rotating his arm.

"I am superior."

Rouge ducked as Wade attempted to hit her in the back. She thrust her leg backwards and kicked his knee. The wolverine shrieked and toppled over as the bat spun around and delivered a powerful sweeping kick across his face. Wade hit the ground with a heavy thud. Rouge turned as Cassidy rushed her. The bat took flight to avoid the speeding cheetah. As her luck would have it, Wade sat up to hit Rouge, but ended up striking his partner instead. Cassidy howled in pain as she was electrocuted for the second time in a day. Rouge then dive-bombed on Wade and smashed both of her feet in the top of his head. Wade's chin slammed into the floor, but he was still conscious. Rouge wondered how the wolverine managed it.

Omega ripped open the hatch for the Diablon. Oxford shot out of the cockpit and took to the air. Omega aimed and fired his chain gun up at him, as he carried the Chaos Emerald in his talon. "Rouge, stop him!"

The bat looked up at Omega's cry and saw Oxford trying to escape. The bat scowled and chased after him before she took flight. "Oh no you don't!" Rouge's wings flapped angrily as she closed in on Oxford.

The owl tilted from one side to the next to avoid Omega's gunfire. It wasn't until it stopped that Oxford looked back. When he did, Oxford received a heel to the face that sent him plummeting out of the air and into the ground. He bounced hard off the metal flooring and rolled away from the Chaos Emerald that clattered with him.

Rouge landed in front of the gem and picked it up with both hands, "Hello there gorgeous!" Rouge and Omega both turned when the jet arrived. Sirens started to go off, a signal that the base was about to go up in smoke. "Come on!" Rouge and Omega both made a break for the aircraft. She opened the hatch and raced in before Omega. She took the pilot's seat and took manual control. "Hold onto your circuits!"

Rouge turned the jet around and blasted out of the hanger. They cleared the base and several miles after within a minute. The explosion was devastating. A tower of flame and smoke cut into the sky. Rouge gave a sigh of relief and heaved back into her chair. She was finally able to relax for a second.

"That was way too close..."

"Sensors picking up no signs of life, outside of the Dark Arms," Omega stated. "All GUN personnel..." Rouge closed her eyes as her heart sank a bit. She only had two constants in her life: her work and jewels. Rouge never imagined she'd have to sacrifice one of them. Even though she was a traitor, she still was loyal to GUN and all its soldiers. So many lives were still in that base. "Team APEX evacuated." The bat slammed her eyes shut. The one group of people in GUN she wouldn't mind having died, and they're the ones who escape.

"We'll deal with them later," Rouge murmured. She needed a nap. "Let's get this Chaos Emerald back to Angel Island and find out what the heck Shadow is doing."

"Affirmative."

* * *

At the base of the smoldering crater and its scattered remains, a large legion of Dark Arms stared at the hole in the ground. Dark Shade stood atop one of the tanks in their forces, and looked up as a jet took off overhead. He could sense the power of the Chaos Emerald being carried in the aircraft. He knew Dark Solstice would not be pleased.

A second aircraft took off just before the explosion as well. It was scarcely worth noting. Shade lifted up his arm and commanded his forces forward, "Kill any survivors. Scavenge anything worthwhile. This shall be the perfect birthing grounds to increase our army!" The legion of Dark Arms moved forward into the fire, smoke, and smoldering remains. As Shade watched, the ground began to rumble from the Dark Wyrms below hollowing out the ground in preparation.

* * *

**Well, this one was longer than usual! Rouge has cut off ties with GUN completely. If keeping the Chaos Emerald didn't do it, leaving an officer to die, attacking one of the top teams in the organization, and stealing the Chaos Emerald would certainly do it. I'm wondering how Team APEX has come off however. I gave them the basic Sonic balance that the teams have: speed, flight, and power. In this case it's Cassidy, Oxford, and Wade respectively. I plan on bringing them back however at a later date.**

**Next chapter will take place during this one, but will detail Shadow helping Eggman, and Sonic following up on Shadow. Like this one, it won't focus around the Dark Arms themselves too much, but I'll bring the aliens back in the chapter after. I just need to think of where I want things to go next.**

**I feel like this story is going to be a LOT longer than I anticipated.**

**Let me know what you think of the story and/or how I'm doing as a writer in the reviews! Thanks much in advance! ^_^**


	5. Stranded in Hollow Canyon

Of all places for Eggman to send a distress signal it had to be in the middle of a canyon. Granted it wasn't Spawn Canyon where Shadow and Sonic witnessed the rise of the Dark Arms, but the Ultimate Life Form still found himself on edge.

It didn't help matters that Eggman was nowhere in sight.

Shadow walked through the narrow passage. His red eyes scanned everything around him. He felt like he was walking into an ambush. Shadow opened up his radio frequency.

"Doctor? Doctor, this is Shadow, come in?" The radio screeched in his ear like nails on a chalk board. Shadow cringed and shut the radio off, "Damn it. What's going on...?"

Shadow jumped a bit when blaster fire rained down on him from above. He snapped his head up to see a dozen Egg Pawns firing down on him with single fire laser blasters. Shadow scowled and dashed up the canyon wall to the top and tore through the robots. After they exploded, he jumped and twisted himself across to the other side. As soon as he touched the ground, Shadow dashed through the other six Egg Pawns.

Shadow clenched his fists in silent fury. Eggman would have a good explanation for this. There was no logic in an attack so random when the Dark Arms are clearly the biggest threat. Eggman always pulled through when there was an enemy worse than him.

When he tried the radio again, Shadow received the same high pitched shriek. He couldn't shut it off fast enough.

"This isn't anything like you Doctor," Shadow said to himself. When Eggman planned to trap Sonic, it was much more elaborate than a simple ambush. And Eggman knew not to cross either hedgehog without a backup plan.

Shadow raced down the walls and through the canyon ravines. One way or another, Eggman would explain what was going on.

* * *

Sonic entered Hollow Canyon is a blur. He nearly tripped over the remains of an Egg Pawn's blaster. He stopped and examined the graveyard of robot bits scattered around the area. Sonic looked up to see smoking remains and hanging parts and circuitry all over the canyon walls. It was like the gory scene out of a horror film for robots. He recognized Shadow's handiwork. Sonic would have toyed with the easily tricked robots, but Shadow of course never liked to enjoy himself. Always business.

Sonic tapped the radio receiver in his ear, "Hey Tails I—," Sonic's ear was filled with an aggressive burst of sound. Sonic to jerk his head away from the shrieking sound before he turned off the radio. He had half a mind to break the stupid thing. "Great." Sonic didn't like the situation, but he had no choice but to push on forward.

* * *

Shadow cut through the canyon's ravine. There were more Egg Pawns, but he ignored the ones that weren't directly in his way. He made no stops however, and simply cut through the robots in his way. Eggman always went for quantity over quality, which made it easy to power through. If Eggman had produced an army of robots even half as capable as Omega then he would actually stand a chance against Sonic and the others.

The ravine sloped downward abruptly. Shadow stopped his dash and slid down the hill. He jumped into the air when he hit the bottom and rolled forward. When he his momentum stopped, Shadow was staring down the barrel of two blasters aimed at him. He barely believed his eyes when he saw Orbot and Cubot aiming at him.

"Wait—SHADOW?!" Orbot lowered his gun and smacked Cubot's down. "Don't destroy us!" Shadow crossed his arms. Neither of Eggman's servants would ever pose a threat, even if they were armed with Eggman's specialized blaster. It was a prototype of the Shadow Rifle that was the Black Arms' most powerful firearm. It wasn't nearly as effective as the original, due to the complicated nature of the Black Arms' technology.

Shadow decided that since the two robots were the only real source of information he had to go on for the time being about the Doctor. "What's going on? Why are Eggman's robots attacking me when he called me for help?"

"We were investigating a strange signal in the area. The signal was some kind of field that—,"

"It turned the Egg Pawns all cattywampus!" Orbot and Shadow both glared at Cubot for his outburst, before they turned back to each other.

"They just started attacking everyone and everything," Orbot stated more clearly. "Even the Doctor himself. We don't know if it's the Dark Arms or what, but we haven't encountered anything else in the area."

"Where is Eggman?"

"He's just up ahead in the caverns." Shadow darted past the robots and around into the nearest cave. He stopped once he was inside and looked around briefly.

Of course there was nothing in the caves.

An explosion caused the entrance to collapse and trap Shadow inside. The black hedgehog couldn't be more disappointed in himself for falling into an obvious trap, and for Orbot and Cubot being stupid enough to think such a simple trick would work on him. Either Eggman was screwing with Shadow, or Orbot and Cubot just had a death wish.

Shadow turned around and prepared to blow his way out of the cavern when static came into his ear. _"...Sha...adow...Sh...Shadow? Come in!"_

"Doctor?" The static was heavy. Shadow barely picked up on it. "Is this a game you're playing?"

"_Shadow! Is that you? There's an electromagnetic field in the area that turned my robots against me! Orbot and Cubot are leading my forces."_

"That's..." Shadow paused and thought of some way to sugarcoat the failure for Eggman. There wasn't. "...humiliating Doctor..."

"_I'm well aware! Listen, they're also using a device that scrambles radio frequency. It's how I manage to remain untraceable even by GUN! But the catacombs are able to block that device out."_

"So do you have a plan to gain control of your robots, before the whole of the Eggman Empire decides to wage a war against everyone?" Shadow knew the stakes. Eggman promised to stay neutral and out of GUN's way, and Shadow trusted him to do just that. The same couldn't be said for a crazed Orbot and Cubot.

"_I'm pinpointing the location of whatever is projecting the field. It's preventing me from establishing my connection back to the main central server that all my robots run off of. If I can connect with that through the field, I can reprogram all of my robots back to factory settings!"_

"Copy that. Where are you?"

"_Just follow my signal through the catacombs. You're bound to catch up with me before I reach the target location anyway."_

Shadow turned towards the back of the cavern and blasted through it with a charged Chaos Spear. The blast destroyed the back wall and opened up a long drop down a dark hole. Shadow jumped through without a second's hesitation.

* * *

Sonic followed the trail of destroyed Egg Pawns, but the more wreckage he found, the more replacements had taken their place. Sonic bounced off the heads of the robots, moving from one to the next just before the previous one exploded. It was a surprise that Eggman needed so many robots in one area.

Then again, Eggman liked a lot of excessive everything, if his belly was any insinuation.

Within a minute, Sonic had destroyed the brigade of Egg Pawns that fired upon him in a constant blur. He stopped himself in the middle of a clearing which was perfectly in the middle of all the carnage. He wasn't one for destruction, unless it was Eggman's machines.

"_SONIC!"_ The blue hedgehog looked up at the bellowing of his name. As he looked up, several large robots that shared similar designs to the Egg Pawns landed in a circle around the hero. The robots were orange, yellow, and blue in color, with angry eyes and razor sharp teeth to show a more intimidating design. Each robot was armed with a different weapon load out; a sword and a shield, claw hands, missile launchers, a giant hammer, and dual chain guns. Sonic took the threat seriously as he crouched down, ready to dash. _"You will rue the day you crossed our paths hedgehog!"_

Sonic blinked at the sound of the voice and then looked back up again. Orbot and Cubot sat at the edge of a nearby cliff and glared down at the hedgehog. Sonic slouched down when he saw the faces of his enemy.

"You're kidding..."

"This bleedin' hog don't take us seriously he don't," Cubot stated. Orbot back handed his dim-witted counterpart.

"We'll show you! Egg Crusher Brigade, destroy Sonic!"

The blue hedgehog dashed out of the line of fire when a hail of bullets rained down on his location. He looked back over his shoulder, only to see the three melee robots dashing at him. Their thrusters were large enough and burned enough fuel to even keep up with the speedy hedgehog.

"Alright, you wanna play then?!"

Sonic burst forward, leaving the robots in his dust. He circled around a large rock formation and charged the Crusher Brigade at top speed. The Knight Crusher slammed its sturdy tower shield into the ground and crouched behind it. Two plates on either side of the shield snapped outward and projected a wide energy field that stretched the width of the canyon's ravine. Sonic broke into a spin dash and shot directly at the center of the tower shield. When he collided, bolts of electricity shot out from the point of impact. Sonic spun faster, but the shield didn't waver in the slightest. The shield's outer plating popped out like a piston, which unleashed an alarming amount of power and hurled Sonic backwards. The spinning hedgehog bounced off of the ground to keep himself from becoming completely floored, and landed in a crouch.

"Well, that's new..." Sonic had never found an Eggman robot he couldn't just power through in some form or another. Even at top speed, the shielding managed to hold its own.

The Claw Crusher fired both of its hands towards Sonic. He countered by sprinting backwards, away from the claw's obvious trajectory. Each finger of the robot's hand then shot out as well with cables attached to them. Sonic looked back, each cable glowing brightly as it followed him persistently. He jumped, rolled, and slid under each spike as it tried to impale him, dodging at just the right second.

As he cleared the ten spikes, Sonic dared another glance backwards. Unfortunately, all he saw were a barrage of homing missiles headed his way. When he looked back ahead, he saw the Gunner Crusher hovering a safe distance ahead and fired down on him. Sonic dodged from one side to the next to avoid the hail of bullets before he curved back the other way. The missiles followed him as he ran straight for the Knight Crusher. The robot repeated the same process as before by projecting its enormous energy field.

Sonic didn't slow down and simply ran upwards, parallel to the energy shield. He heard several of the missiles hit the shield and explode behind him. When he reached the top, Sonic leaped into the air. The Claw Crusher fired at him with one hand. Sonic used his homing attack to head towards the spikes. He moved just above the sharpened projectile and put his feet on the cords, and started grinding down them towards the Crusher bot.

The few remaining missiles that followed were hot on Sonic's trail. The Claw Crusher fired its other hand at him at twice the speed as the previous ones. Sonic jumped and dashed along the cable with sparks flying from his shoes. When he reached the Claw Crusher, Sonic used his homing attack on its head to disorient the bot. As it stumbled, Sonic landed behind it only for the robot to take the last remaining missiles to its frame.

Sonic dashed away as the robot erupted in a powerful explosion that sent its pieces flying across the canyon.

"No no no NO! You stupid miserable scrap piles, you're supposed to destroy _him_ not each other!"

"Send that scallywag ta Davy Jones' Locker ya worthless bilgerats!"

Sonic darted between the Hammer Crusher's legs as it tried to squash him under its weapon. The blue hedgehog then looked up and realized he was surrounded again by the other three bots in the Crusher Brigade. The Missile Crusher fired, and Sonic jumped over the explosive before it could hit him. The detonation gave Sonic some extra momentum to avoid the Knight Crusher's attempt to run the hedgehog through. The Gunner Crusher rained an endless stream of bullets down on the hedgehog. Sonic stopped as quickly as he could, but the Gunner continued forward until it crashed into a canyon wall. The size and force of the impact caused half of the wall to collapse on the heavy machine and bury it completely.

Orbot growled furiously and clenched his fists. Cubot shook his head with utter disappointment.

Sonic snapped his head and flipped backwards through the air as the Hammer Crusher attempted to flatten him. When he landed, Sonic flipped onto his feet and dashed straight for the Missile Crusher. He knew the Hammer would be right behind him.

As the Missile Crusher fired its explosives from its body, Sonic picked up his speed as each missile stopped short or landed behind him. When he got close to the Missile Crusher, Sonic jumped up and landed on its chest. He lingered for a split second before spring boarding off of it just as the Hammer Crusher lived up to its name and crushed the robot under its weapon.

Sonic landed with a bounce and immediately began spinning to build up energy for his Light Speed Attack. With the glowing energy built up around him, Sonic launched forward and tore through every available opening on the robot's body. Sonic ended the full out assault by punching a hole through the Hammer Crusher's chest with enough force to clear the resulting explosion.

Sonic turned to his last, and biggest threat, the Knight Crusher. The robot shot forward and attempted to cleave the hedgehog in half. Sonic jumped and landed on the flat end of the sword in a crouch. He jumped off just before the swing lost momentum, and spun in the air. Sonic shot forward with a homing attack, and bounced off the robot's head. He continued with another, and another, and several more until he started denting and damaging the robot's head. The hedgehog's persistent bouncing and attacking eventually had the Knight Crusher malfunctioning before it went crashing down on its backside.

When he landed, Sonic dashed towards Orbot and Cubot's location in two seconds. When he got to the cliff's edge however, both of Eggman's moronic minions were gone.

"Shoot." Sonic looked around for any trace of them, but saw only an empty clearing. With no other options, Sonic continued onward to find Shadow or Eggman.

* * *

The catacombs were alarmingly straightforward. They were dug out, rather than natural, which made it easier for Shadow to continue on his path.

Shadow heard something screaming ahead of him. He broke out into a sprint. He dodged Doctor Eggman at the last second. Both looked surprised to see each other.

"Shadow?!"

"Doctor, what are you—," Shadow looked past the Doctor and saw a small horde of Dark Parasites, and Dark Soldiers armed with swords or nothing but their bare claws. He noticed not a single Soldier was armed with a firearm. The aliens all hesitated at the sight of the hedgehog. Clearly they knew better than to rush him. "What's going on?"

"The Dark Arms are here for the Chaos Emerald!" Shadow snapped his head to the Doctor. Before a single accusation could fly, the tunnel began to rumble. The Dark Arms fled immediately. Bad guys fleeing before the fighting started never boded well.

The tunnel collapsed on the other end as something _big_ came through and rolled over the fleeing aliens. The ground shook even harder as the creature passed through. Shadow only watched with wide eyes at the colossal beast. When it passed, both Shadow and Eggman stood in silence. The hedgehog turned his stunned silence up to the Doctor.

"That...that's a thing." Shadow looked back at the new tunnel and the resulting devastation caused by the gigantic beast. "I suppose I have some explaining to do."

"Yeah, yeah you do." Eggman motioned for Shadow to follow him.

"I said I followed a strange signal to Hollow Canyon. I realized that there was a secret GUN facility out here." Shadow glanced up at Eggman accusingly. Hunting a Chaos Emerald and screwing with GUN were the two things Eggman said he wouldn't do. He wasn't stupid enough to be caught red handed, let alone call for help. "I found out that they were working on a top secret research project. The field that turned my robots against me was a weapon that they were working on, specifically to use against me. It was supposed to turn all my robots against their main programming in the inevitable event of future attacks."

"Smart."

"Surprisingly so," Eggman admitted. Shadow knew that Eggman usually had the edge against GUN more often than not. The fact that the guardian organization devised to try and outwit Eggman was startling for Shadow and his power hungry partner. "GUN shut it down though because the device affected their robots too. Even worse, this device completely fries anything electronic the closer you get to it, which is why the Dark Arms had no weapons, and why I'm without any sort of transportation of my own!"

Shadow began piecing the puzzle together. "And the device is powered by a Chaos Emerald, and the Dark Arms are here to secure the device against you and GUN."

Eggman smiled down at his friend and chuckled, "Ho-ho, clever as always Shadow. The Dark Arms may just be coincidental, since there isn't any commander here with them, but the GUN device being powered by a Chaos Emerald is spot on." Shadow huffed softly. Eggman promptly looked down at the hedgehog and smirked. "You thought I was being the bad guy again, didn't you?"

"You usually are the bad guy, Doctor." Eggman chuckled and shook his head as he and Shadow both continued down the tunnel.

Something about the whole situation still felt off. Shadow had no qualms about putting GUN's needs second to what he believed was right, and he certainly didn't mind helping Professor Gerald's grandson despite his plots to take over the world. He still wasn't sure what was wrong with the story Eggman told.

After some distance, Eggman led Shadow to a large cavern that housed some sort of GUN facility. Shadow saw from a distance that it was high level security, reinforced plating, all the stops for top secret or important GUN facilities. Even Eggman would have trouble breaking into the outpost.

Shadow felt uneasy. Eggman continued forward. Shadow lingered a bit before he followed Eggman again. "You knew about this before coming here." Eggman stopped and turned about to face Shadow. The hedgehog narrowed his eyes at the Doctor. "You couldn't have possibly known about this outpost, the device, or the Chaos Emerald in the time you've been here..."

The doctor remained impassive under the accusations, and Shadow's menacing stare. Sonic and Eggman were the only ones who were truly immune to most of Shadow's frightening looks, barring Shadow's teammates of course.

Shadow felt his heart jump a bit as the cavern began to rumble. He was never one to shy away from an opponent, but being stuck underground with a giant monster that tunnels was the least appealing option available.

"We don't have time for this Shadow. We need to get inside immediately. I'll be able to shut down the device once I'm inside!" Eggman headed towards the facility immediately. Shadow recognized that the Doctor refused to acknowledge his suspicions, but he was right about there being only one safe haven.

Eggman waited by the door for Shadow. The hedgehog entered in his clearance code. The lights to the facility turned on, and a hum of electronics started up. An earth shaking bellow came as a response. Shadow looked around for the inevitable emergence of that horrifying beast.

At the other end of the cavern, the massive creature smashed through the wall. It wriggled out from the earth, displaying its full size which Shadow could barely make out in one eyeful. He watched as the monster got closer. It had no eyes, but an incredibly huge mouth that it used to devour an endless amount of earth. Due to its coloration, Shadow could tell it was of the Dark Arms race.

"Get inside Doctor! I'll handle this thing!"

Eggman didn't argue as he ran straight for safety. Shadow growled as he charged towards the creature before it threatened to destroy the facility. The creature had various contraptions on its body, many of which Shadow recognized he could use for grinding.

As Shadow sped past it, he drew the attention of the Dark Wyrm.

Shadow used his speed and shoes to propel himself up one of the walls as the creature pursued him. He flipped backwards once he reached the cavern ceiling and fell towards the alien. Shadow's eyes caught a strange device sticking out of the creature's skin. He landed on one of the rails sticking out of the beast's hide, and slid towards the strange device. As he sped towards it, the Wyrm began tunneling underground again to throw Shadow off. The black hedgehog used his homing attack at the last second before the Wyrm could get away completely.

The device pulsated brightly as Shadow bounced off of it. He rolled across the ground and turned back just as the creature's tail end was submerged into the earth.

A pained howl shook the whole cavern.

Shadow stumbled as the ground quaked under his feet. The other end of the catacombs broke apart as the Dark Wyrm reemerged from below. Shadow watched in horror as it moved towards the GUN facility.

"Chaos Spear!" Shadow threw his arm back and forth rapidly, unleashing a hail of small, yellow spears of energy at the creature. The Wyrm felt the barrage, as it stopped and turned to Shadow. "Come on you ugly freak..."

The Wyrm moved towards Shadow. The hedgehog responded in kind as he dashed at the creature.

As the distance between them closed quickly, Shadow performed a homing attack towards the creature's face, more specifically towards one of the rails coming out of its mouth. He slid along the metal pipe and onto the Wyrm's body. He dashed across its back and jumped into the air for another homing attack, only for the creature to be out of his reach.

He landed in a crouching position and looked around for where it could be bursting from. "Where the hell could that thing be...?"

The cavern started shaking again hard. Shadow stumbled as the world beneath his feet seemed to shift. Parts of the ceiling started to fall down on Shadow. The hedgehog quickly jumped and used his homing attack to get as far from the falling debris as possible. When he landed, he began stumbling again, but kept running. The crashing rocks kept shaking the ground, making it difficult for Shadow to stay on a straight path, let alone break out into his full speed. A bolder crashed in front of him, which he narrowly dodged. Unfortunately the path he took to dodged took him straight towards the Dark Wyrm.

"Chaos Control!" Shadow's knee jerk reaction had time slowing down. Even so, he narrowly managed to avoid the gigantic beast as it burst from the ground. The Chaos Control had a short duration however due to Shadow snapping it on with no preparation. The girth of the Wyrm came out of the ground and smacked the hedgehog to the side.

Shadow landed on his hands and spun around onto his feet before breaking out into a full sprint. The Wyrm stayed surfaced, but turned around and wriggled towards the hedgehog. The Ultimate Life Form growled angrily as he moved faster. He tucked into a ball and rolled under one of the spikes coming out of the beasts' mouth, then ran up the side of the creature's body. Shadow closed in on the device that was embedded into the Wyrm's skin.

He used the homing attack again and activated the device, which started to send painful surges through the Wyrm's body. The creature bellowed loudly as it dug itself underground. Shadow watched powerful surges of energy pulsating around its entire body before disappearing underground. He watched as the Wyrm vanished from sight and panted softly. His furred chest rose and fell while his crimson eyes darted back and forth.

How a creature so massive could move silently underground was beyond him.

Shadow turned to the sound of the Wyrm. His crimson eyes were horrified to see the creature was right next to the outpost where Eggman was. Shadow made a break towards the outpost, but he knew he wouldn't make it in time.

"Damn!"

As the Wyrm dove for the base, it met the resistance of a high powered electric shield. The creature howled in agony and retracted, thrashing around in pain.

Shadow didn't question the miracle, but instead turned his focus towards the Wyrm's one weakness. Thankfully, its tail was exposed, as was the device that caused the creature even more pain. Shadow dove down to the lower level of the cavern and glided on his air shoes. He closed the distance in no time, and then began to pummel the blasted device with a barrage of homing attacks.

Each hit send a fresh surge of pain through the Wyrm, slowly building in intensity. With an earth shaking roar, the Wym threw its upper half into the air and tried squirming away, but finally succumbed. It fell to the side like a giant oak tree and slammed into the ground with enough weight to have cracks shooting out from where it impacted.

The immortal let out a heavy sigh before he turned back to the base. The doors opened, and nobody was there to greet him. That was of course Eggman's trademark way to invite someone in. Shadow let himself in regardless.

In the control room, Eggman typed away at the console. Shadow stopped in the doorway and frowned at the Doctor, "Step away from the computer."

"You still don't trust me, huh Shadow?"

"I trust you, just not your motives."

"I'm not the one keeping Chaos Emeralds from you to create super weapons," Eggman responded.

"Just because you've never succeeded doesn't mean you haven't tried." The Doctor turned and stepped out of the way of the console.

Shadow watched him warily as he approached the computer, intent on shutting it down. He stopped when some static came through his ear piece.

"_Shadow, come in Shadow?"_

"Rouge," Shadow answered. He was relieved to hear from her.

Their transmission was full of static, but Rouge came through well enough, _"Shadow, listen, Tower just...I don't know what he's thinking. He's ordered all agents to gather the Chaos Emeralds and deliver them back to Headquarters. Anyone who doesn't is considered an enemy, you, me, Sonic, everyone."_

Shadow's eyes went up to the computer screen. Eggman played him perfectly. All sorts of classified GUN files containing countless doomsday weapons that all required the power of Chaos Emeralds were pulled up on screen. The weapons they were making weren't just for Eggman or extraterrestrial threats like the Black Arms, or Dark Arms. There were also designs for all sorts of devices to stop Shadow, Sonic, and the others.

Humanity didn't trust him after all.

Shadow pressed his fingers against the radio, "Understood Rouge. Is that all?"

He could hear his partner sigh over the radio, _"Yeah...that's all..."_

Shadow knew Rouge was a creature of habit. She relied on GUN more than anyone, including Shadow and Omega. To a certain point, Shadow came to expect this from just simple human nature. Rouge on the other hand was in too deep with GUN. The thought of having to betray them wouldn't be an easy choice for Rouge, not by a long shot.

"What are you going to do?"

"_What do you expect...?"_

Shadow could tell by her tone that Rouge was going to do what he expected her to do. She was going to side with them against GUN. Whether she knew it or not, she was definitely making the right choice. "Don't do anything hasty."

"_That's my line big guy...Rouge out."_

The connection was cut. Shadow slowly turned to Eggman. He wasn't arrogant, cocky, or smug like most people would have expected. Eggman was silent and respectful. It was a side that Eggman showed very few people, the side of a true friend.

"You need to reestablish connection to your hubs, right," Shadow asked.

"That's right. Once that happens, I'll be able to control my army again." The rogue hedgehog nodded and then extended his hand out to the Doctor. Eggman recognized the gesture and chuckled, "Just making sure you were paying attention." The mad scientist pulled out the silver Chaos Emerald and then tossed it to Shadow.

"I'm sure." Shadow caught the emerald and then held it above his head, "Chaos CONTROL!"

Light burst out from the gem, consuming both Eggman and Shadow, and vanished with both in the blink of an eye.

* * *

Of all things, Orbot and Cubot being in command of an entire armada of Eggman robots was a sight Sonic never expected to see. And yet his green eyes stared out at the landed Egg Carrier with thousands of robots between him and the ship. First were a few thousand Egg Pawns, with a secondary layer of Egg Knights, and then finally a legion of Egg Fighters to create a rather solid line of defense. Even for Sonic, getting through would present a difficult task.

The blue hedgehog readied himself to charge in, until a flash of light erupted behind him. Sonic turned and watched as a brilliant little light show went off. When the glaring whiteness faded, Shadow and Eggman stood before him.

"Ah, I see you brought backup."

"I didn't invite him," Shadow replied. The two hedgehogs stared at each other, "What are you doing here Sonic?"

"Trying to help you save Eggman. But then I get shot at by Egg-butt's robots instead. Care to explain that?"

"It's a long story," Eggman answered. "But just to let you know, I brought Shadow here for the Chaos Emerald." The inventor pulled out a small device in his hand and pressed a few buttons on it, each one beeping.

"GUN doesn't share the same interests as we do Sonic," Shadow explained.

"Please, when do they ever? Even when I'm on their side their robots still shoot at me."

"They kept this Chaos Emerald from us," Shadow said as he held out the silver jewel to emphasize his point. "They created a weapon which reprograms all robots within its range, renders all technologies useless, and disrupts radio frequencies." Shadow tossed the Chaos Emerald to Sonic. The blue hedgehog grabbed it out of the air and gave his counterpart a confused stare. "According to Rouge, Commander Tower has issued an official statement saying that anyone who doesn't hand the Chaos Emeralds over to them is a traitor. So right now, we're all enemies of GUN."

Sonic stared at the Chaos Emerald and hummed before he tossed the jewel back to Shadow. The Ultimate Life Form instinctively snatched the emerald out of the air and narrowed his crimson eyes with scrutiny.

"You take the Chaos Emerald to Angel Island. I'll help Eggman get his robots back." Sonic shifted his weight to one leg as he shot a taunting smirk at the doctor. "That is if he promises not to turn them on me."

"I have bigger fish to fry Sonic. Besides..." Both hedgehogs turned to what sounded like a missile being fired from the Egg Carrier. Sonic tensed up, ready to run, but Shadow just watched as whatever it was soaring through the air like a jet. It moved over their heads and landed a few feet away from Eggman. His signature Egg Mobile hovered a few feet off of the ground as the Doctor climbed in. "You'll just get in my way!" Eggman rocketed off into the air on his vehicle and began firing down on his own creations in a hail of bullets.

Sonic threw his hand out in disbelief and shook his head at Shadow. "Me? Get in his way? He's joking right?"

Shadow only rolled his eyes before activating Chaos Control again. The black hedgehog vanished in an instant. Sonic shook his head at the fact that Shadow never partook in bantering any more. Or ever before.

Eggman pulled his boat from one side to the next as lasers, bullets, and lances attempted to blast him out of the sky. He focused on his goal at the Egg Carrier, likely where Orbot and Cubot were hiding. The biggest problem he had were the flying heaps of robot bits that were tossed up through the air from Sonic crashing through them.

"You blasted hedgehog! Those are still _my_ robots!"

"And either way I'd be smashing them Eggman!"

The scientist glared down at the hedgehog just before he dashed on ahead. Eggman scowled and pounded his fist on the controls for his Egg Mobile to move faster.

Sonic stopped in a wide clearing, just in front of the Egg Carrier. He examined the area curiously as the various Egg-bots formed a circle around them. The hedgehog felt a certain sense of nervousness building in the pit of his stomach. He was more accustomed to Eggman's tactics of trying to overwhelm Sonic through numbers. Any kind of pause was never a good thing.

"You wretched rodent, I'll—," Eggman paused and took notice of the lack of movement going on. "...this isn't good."

"I thought so too," Sonic said. The side cabinet to the Egg Carrier opened to reveal a wall of darkness that neither could see through. Heavy thuds came from the darkness. Sonic looked over at his nemesis, "...what's that exactly?"

Eggman gave a deep sigh and shrugged, "...just about anything I've invented."

"Very helpful," Sonic said as he punched the side of the Egg Mobile.

The thuds grew louder, hearing the rhythm of footsteps. Sonic and Eggman both readied themselves for anything. What they saw was not what Sonic expected.

A towering robot of some kind stepped out. It was easily Eggman's laziest design ever. It looked like a metal rod with lanky legs and arms. Its limbs were literally connected to two rotating swings at the very top and bottoms of the metal pole that was its center. The upper half of the 'robot' was red and the lower half was yellow, to match the placements of Orbot and Cubot in relation to the center piece of the over sized droid. Both of Eggman's mechanical assistants were in their retracted shape form and looked as though they were wedged into the center unit of the machine.

"You're joking," was all the hedgehog could say.

"Oh this is very bad," Eggman stated. Sonic couldn't believe his ears. Of all the menacing, hulking, fully equipped creations Eggman had cranked out to fight Sonic, the street lamp with limbs was bad?

"Oh come on! This thing looks like you just threw it together out of the junk pile!"

"It was designed specifically to combat you and all your moves!"

"And you made it for Orbot and Cubot? Really?"

"No! It was meant for me! They must have modified it for themselves..."

Sonic turned to face his nemesis and threw his arms out to the side, "They've been out of your control for less than an hour!"

"Well they don't need to sleep either!"

"_Your banter is adorable,"_ Orbot's voice called out over a loud speaker. Eggman and Sonic turned their attention to the approaching droid as it clenched its fist. _"But the time for talk is over! Eggman, Sonic, time to meet your maker!"_

"That's my line you thieving little—,"

Sonic dashed ahead while Eggman continued his threats. Eggman's Fuse-Bot was too tall for Sonic to reach with a standard homing attack. As soon as the hedgehog realized this, the Fuse-Bot's fingers retracted into its arm, forming a cannon. Before Sonic could dodge, he was lifted up by a mechanical claw around his waist. He took a second to look up and saw Eggman carrying him off the ground. Thankfully Eggman seemed to read Sonic's mind, and was carrying up to the Egg Carrier's main deck. While they were moving through the air, a powerful laser swept across to slice them in half.

Eggman dropped Sonic just as they cleared the deck. The blue blur rolled and circled around to face Orbot at the top of the Fuse-Bot.

Several circular ports along the shaft of the Fuse-Bot opened up and revealed laser cannons aimed at Sonic. They fired in a hail of searing white lasers cut through the air. Sonic jumped, rolled, and dove out of the way of each laser as quickly as it raced at him. When there was a pause in the shooting, Sonic sprinted towards the towering machine with his green eyes fixed on Orbot's round form.

The Fuse-Bot threw its long, narrow arm forward in a punch. Just before it could connect, Sonic hopped in the air and started grinding smoothly along the length of the metal limb. Just as he was about to jump to the second half, a metal beam the length of the Fuse-Bot's forearm shot up under his feet and threw Sonic across the deck of the Egg Carrier.

The blue blur landed on his back with a hard thud that had him rolling end over end. He rebounded quickly and dashed forward again. As the Fuse-Bot threw its other fist, Sonic merely side stepped it. He dashed under the punch and launched himself at Orbot. The lanky machine quickly spun its upper half around as Sonic was knocked out of the air with the back of the robot's over sized hand.

Sonic slammed into the hard metal of the Egg Carrier again. He skipped across the deck like a rock on the water's surface before he slid to a stop on his stomach.

The hedgehog groaned before he told the floor, "Ow..."

"_You foolish rodent! This was designed specifically to counter all your attacks and moves! Grinding, homing attacks, spin dashes, none of it will measure up against against our double interface!"_

Sonic hopped up to his feet and craned his head from side-to-side, "So, you and Cubot are controlling that big hunk of junk huh?" Orbot's eyes blinked in confusion. The speedy hedgehog smirked with unrivaled arrogance. "Good to know."

* * *

After Eggman dropped Sonic off on the main deck to deal with Orbot and Cubot, he hopped out of the Egg Mobile and grabbed his knock-off Shadow Rifle. It was easily the most impressive piece of Black Arms weaponry the Doctor managed to salvage, and although he was unable to replicate their tech for mass production his blaster still packed enough of a kick to destroy almost anything it shot.

Eggman quickly hacked himself into his own ship and ran inside. He met resistance after rounding just the first corner. Three of his Egg Pawns turned and fired at him. Eggman stepped behind cover as an endless barrage of yellow lasers bounced off the metal of his ship. "You blasted rebellious robots!" The portly scientist leaned out of cover and fired from his gun. Two of the three Egg Pawns went down as the lasers tore through their upper bodies. Eggman laughed at his triumph before he ducked back behind cover.

Eggman leaned out again and fired two shots. The second one hit successfully and turned his Egg Pawn into scrap. The Doctor allowed himself another triumphant laugh before he continued down the halls.

He grinned with glee when he reached his control room. His first order of business was to close and seal the blast doors behind him so he could hack undisturbed.

That notion flew out the window when the Egg Carrier shook. The ship's creator could only assume that it was from Sonic's fight with the Fuse-Bot. It just gave Eggman another reason to work faster.

* * *

Sonic cartwheeled to his left as Orbot chopped the Fuse-Bot's arm down on the Egg Carrier in an attempt to squash the blue annoyance. Sonic dashed under the bot's arm. The Fuse-Bot pulled its arm back quickly, but it was very slow due it the size and how lazily put together it seemed. Despite the fact it was simple, it still gave Sonic a run for his money.

The Fuse-Bot's other hand came over Orbot's face to shield him from any sort of attack. Sonic smirked as he shot down the side of the Egg Carrier and jumped over onto the giant machine's leg. He landed perfectly and waited. A second later, a beam from the Fuse-Bot's leg launched Sonic into the air, just behind the machine's hand where Orbot was. The look of fear on the bot's face was priceless, just before Sonic punched it hard enough to crack the plating.

Orbot shrieked as Sonic bounced off the framing of the Fuse-Bot in order to launch himself back to the Egg Carrier. The Fuse-Bot stumbled back as it clutched Orbot's face as if a person who just had a broken nose would do. As an added bonus for Sonic, the giant machine's stumbling destroyed even more of Eggman's robots.

"_You irritating hedgehog! You meddlesome creature!"_ Orbot's voice echoed through the sound of the Fuse-Bot's speakers.

"_Ya wee menace! We'll throttle you inta next week!"_

Sonic landed on the Egg Carrier's deck and started to sprint as the Fuse-Bot launched a barrage of lasers. Sonic easily dodged all of the searing white bolts in an impressive display of acrobatics, and showing off. "You're too slow," Sonic taunted as he cartwheeled out of the way of the final laser.

"_Grrr, Egg Pawns! Overwhelm him!"_

Cubot's speaker enhanced voice laughed as almost a dozen Egg Pawns jumped onto the Egg Carrier's deck. _"Haha! Show 'im the strength in numbers boys!"_

The Scottish accent was throwing Sonic off.

Four Egg Pawns behind Sonic aimed with their laser rifles and immediately opened fire on Sonic. As soon as their mechanical fingers first squeezed the trigger, Sonic was already on the move. The Egg Pawn firing squad continued to shoot, their arms moving in the same mechanical motion over and over with each shot. Sonic circled around the shots and came on the firing squad's left side. Before they could move, Sonic slammed into the first one's frame with all his build up speed. The robot was nearly torn in half, but more importantly it flew back and smashed his other friends up beyond factory settings.

Two of the Egg Pawns threw two round, black bombs at Sonic. They reminded the hedgehog of the robotic Kikis that Eggman use to make. Sonic quickly jumped into the air and kicked both bombs in separate directions. The detonation of each frightened the hero a bit, as they both managed to wipe out all but a handful of the Egg Pawns.

It took Sonic less a few seconds to wipe out the rest.

"_You stupid little hedgehog! Just die already!"_

Sonic waited until the Fuse-Bot stepped up to the Egg Carrier again. As it approached though, Orbot kept one hand guarded even closer to his face The other one was extended out like a blind man, and swung at the air haphazardly.

Without a second's hesitation, Sonic dashed towards the flailing arm. He launched himself off the deck as high as he could and managed to start grinding along the length of the Fuse-Bot's arm. The bot's other hand parted its fingers to allow Orbot to peak through. He saw the hedgehog grinding on his other arm and moved to swat him like a bug.

"_Why you—,"_ Sonic quickly jumped into the air just as the giant arm came crashing down. He launched himself through the air with his homing attack and landed on the Fuse-Bot's other arm. _"No no no no!"_ The Fuse-Bot's upper half started to turn quickly with its arm extended out to throw Sonic off. The hedgehog sprung off just in time before he could be thrown clear, and landed back on the Fuse-Bot's first arm.

Orbot looked in horror as Sonic bounced off the arm and shot straight towards him, _"NOO!"_

The hedgehog cut off the bot's shrieks with a right cross to the face. He followed up with a left just as Orbot choked out a brief scream. It droned in deliriousness before Sonic finished up with a spinning kick to Orbot's face.

The last blow knocked Orbot's functions back into working order for him to howl in agony. Sonic shot off the Fuse-Bot's center piece as a few pieces of Orbot's face fell off. The Fuse-Bot stumbled back again as both hands were used to cover its face.

"_O-oww! Yo-oou bla-bla-blasted hedgehog-hog-hog-hog."_ Sonic couldn't help but laugh at the fact that he broke something in Orbot's systems to screw up his voice. Normally Sonic could only amuse himself this much with Eggman as a foe. Orbot was proving to be quite the fill-in. _"Cu-cu-cu-cu-Cubot, I'm leaving this to you-you-you-you."_

"_Aye, I read ya loud and clear laddy!"_

Sonic slid across the side of the Egg Carrier and landed on the ground. Cubot laughed maniacally as he lifted the Fuse-Bot's legs one at a time in an attempt to stomp the speedy blue hedgehog. It was easy for Sonic to run circles around the slow movements of the lower half of the giant machine. Sonic waited until Cubot stomped the foot in front of him before hopping on top of it. Cubot yelped as the leg yanked up sharply. Sonic launched himself off the foot at the height of the upward momentum and shot higher on the opposite leg. He slid up the metal frame to close the distance to Cubot and then launched a homing attack. He smashed his foot through Cubot's face and bounced off with a back flip. Before the Fuse-Bot could stumble back too far, Sonic launched another homing attack and slammed his shoulder into Cubot's dented face. He punched the bot twice in the face and ended with a spinning heel-kick that he launched himself off of.

"_I do-do-do-do s-s-s-say, that-that bloke packs quite a wallop-op-op!"_

One of the Fuse-Bots hands reached down to help cover Cubot's face. The machine staggered like a punch-drunk man with a broken nose and stomach pains. Sonic watched as the Fuse-Bot stumbled around unbalanced. A wicked grin came across his face when a sinister though crept into his mind.

Sonic charged towards the robot's stumbling feet and then took a hard right. He picked up his speed and kicked up the dirt. He lapped around several times, slowly creating a blue whirlwind around the base of the gigantic machine's legs. The hurricane of force caused the Fuse-Bot to stumble even worse. The two halves spun around independently both due to Orbot and Cubot's earlier beatings. They couldn't sync up anymore, so the upper and lower halves of the Fuse-Bot spun independently from each other. The blue tornado building around the Fuse-Bot eventually had the towering robot falling over like a chopped tree. The timing went perfectly as both halves of the Fuse-Bot aligned so that Orbot and Cubot's shrieking faces slammed into the side of the Egg Carrier and were smashed one final time.

The towering robot slid down the side of the airship and tipped to the side, crashing down one last time. "Too easy," Sonic cheered as he threw a few jabs at the air while bouncing on his toes, "Piece of cake!"

The eight hundred gun salute caused the cocky hedgehog to tense up and slowly turn around. The barrels of countless guns and explosives aimed directly at him, ready to reduce the hedgehog to swiss cheese.

"_Oh Sonic,"_ the cheery voice of Doctor Eggman called out through the Egg Carrier's speakers. _"You owe me. Ho-ho-ho..."_ Every last weapon held by Eggman's robots lowered immediately, much to Sonic's relief. _"Actually..."_

* * *

Eggman leaned in the captain's chair of the Egg Carrier and smirked, "We'll call it even. I'm taking my forces to battle the Dark Arms. Need a lift to any floating islands on the way by?"

"_Promise I can sit in the front seat with you Egghead?"_

"I'll think about it. Now hurry up before I change my mind." Eggman slammed the receiver down and leaned back in _his_ chair. He had his throne back.

* * *

Sonic shook his head before he raced up into the giant ship. He stopped in the hangar and started his stroll through Eggman's ship, completely ignored by the legions of robots surrounding him. "You do one good thing for him and it goes straight to his head. Oh well Egghead."

* * *

**So...about a month since an update huh? Sorry about that ^_^' I probably had too much fun writing this chapter honestly. I mean, three boss fights is kind of excessive. And...well, so is GUN's reaction probably.**

**Well anyway, if you enjoyed, please leave a review. I'll give the next chapter more thought I promise. Who knows when I can finish that though xP**


	6. Emerald Warzone

**So uh...hey guys, been awhile huh? I...I uh...screw it, I'll forgo any excuses until the end of the chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

There was plenty of time to think on the way back to Angel Island. Omega was hardly a conversationalist, but Rouge was use to working with the strong silent types. She appreciated the silence. It gave her time to think about what to do with herself since GUN cast her out. The only option that stood out was going back to her days as a jewel thief like the old days. The thought of just wasting her days alongside her two brooding companions drove Rouge crazy.

"Approaching Angel Island," Omega said. Rouge flipped the ship off of autopilot and took the controls over herself. With no landing program built in, manual was the only way to go.

The protective shielding of Chaos Energy around Angel Island continued to glow as Rouge's jet passed through it unhindered. She had always been envious of Shadow's abilities to harness Chaos Energy from the emeralds, but now Knuckles could use that power too. It made Rouge even more envious to their connection with the mystical jewels.

Rouge landed smoothly across the altar, in front of the horribly put together wooden bridge. She wished there was more room around the shrine to land her jet so she nor Omega would have to cross the death trap.

A flash of light appeared at the base of the altar. Rouge and Omega both recognized it as Chaos Control. The bat shook her head as though fate was rubbing the Chaos Energy envy, and the fact that Shadow didn't have to cross the bridge, in her face.

* * *

Shadow slowly rose up from one knee and stared up at the Altar of the Emeralds. He slowly walked up the stone stairs. At the top waited Amy, who smiled at the black hedgehog. At the Master Emerald itself, Knuckles and Tails stood around it and looked at a mystical projection of what Shadow assumed to be the other four Chaos Emeralds.

"You made it just in time," Knuckles cheered. "Put the Chaos Emerald on one of the pillars." Shadow nodded and then held the emerald out as an offering to the shrine. The silver gemstone floated out of Shadow's hand and over to one of the broken pillars that circled the altar.

The barrier around Angel Island pulsated with new life as a surge of fresh gray energy coursed through the protective shield.

"I'm guessing that you needed that power soon, huh?"

Tails nodded his head. His eyes stared out in the horizon beyond the floating island, "We were attacked earlier by Dark Arms. The barrier held them back, but we barely managed to survive."

"Yeah, then your GUN buddies showed up, and we thought they were here to help," Knuckles added with a hint of anger in his tone.

Shadow wished they didn't have to learn of GUN's evident betrayal until he had returned, "Sorry...we should have gotten word back to you sooner."

"So what, GUN is our enemy now," Amy asked.

"It looks that way. Eggman took me to one of their outpost, and showed me a long list of weapons they were designing in secret. And several of them involved using the Chaos Emeralds." They all knew what the implications meant. All three of the heroes had spent years stopping Eggman from creating super weapons using the Emeralds for obvious reasons. They didn't hold out the hopes that GUN would be any better.

"Even GUN couldn't—_shouldn't_ handle that much power," Tails finally said. Knuckles and Amy both nodded.

"Then we're all in agreement," Shadow proclaimed.

"Yes, we are..." Shadow turned sharply to the sound of Rouge's voice. The treasure hunter was followed closely by the heavy footsteps of Omega. Shadow recognized the faint look of defeat that Rouge carefully tried to hide in her eyes. Rouge held the purple Chaos Emerald above her head and allowed it to float out of her gloved hand.

Shadow watched her closely while everyone else stared at the Chaos Emerald. "Rouge..."

Her teal eyes reflected the light of the Chaos Emerald as it stopped itself in place and surged through the barrier with power. "I'll be fine."

He trusted her judgment, even if he didn't believe her. Instead, he just nodded and accepted her answer.

"Alright, with the power of three Chaos Emeralds, Angel Island is as safe as can be," Tails cheered. Shadow believed the fox's claims too as he watched the barrier shift subtly to the different colors of each emerald feeding its power.

"We might have a problem..." The projection above the Master Emerald started to shift before everyone's eyes. "This is going on not too far from where we are." As Knuckles narrated, the images changed to GUN forces moving across an open field, and then to the Dark Arms storming to meet them. "They're both moving to get a Chaos Emerald.

"It's gonna be messy when they start up," Rouge said as her eyes focused on GUN rolling in an entire army. "They're going to get themselves setup to destroy each other."

"That's going to be a suicide run unless we try to take a run at the emerald before they're completely ready," Shadow added.

"Those odds prove favorable," Omega droned. Nobody was going to doubt his analysis for a second.

"Who knows if we can even get over there in time though. What's worse is that the Dark Arms outnumber us all..." Knuckles waved his hand and altered the projections. Dark Shade appeared with a Chaos Emerald in his dark, blue claw. The gem shined with a blinding light that filled the entire display. Whiteness was replaced by Dark Solstice holding the red Chaos Emerald in his grasp. "They already have two other Chaos Emeralds."

"It looked like Shade was in some sort of GUN facility," Rouge pointed out. Knuckles shifted the projection to a cyan spot on the world map. Rouge recognized the location immediately, "That's one of their top secret facilities...how did they find that so quickly...?"

"Dark Solstice is stationed in Spawn Canyon," Knuckles stated as a red spot popped on the lower end of the map. "Going after him is going to be next to impossible..."

"We don't have a choice." Shadow knew that sooner or later, it was all going to come down to taking down Dark Solstice. "Where is the last Chaos Emerald located?"

"It's in GUN control." A green dot appeared on the map, showing the location of the last four Chaos Emeralds. "How do we want to go after them," Knuckles asked.

"We know GUN is making super weapons with the Chaos Emeralds, and if their last one managed to turn Eggman's armada against him, then who knows what else they might be making."

"You have a point," Rouge said to Tails. "But that location is GUN Headquarters. Breaking in isn't going to be easy, especially considering the remodeling they've done since Black Doom's attack."

"Rouge is right, we'll need to build up our power before taking on GUN directly anyway." Shadow walked forward next to Knuckles and tapped the yellow dot, the closest Chaos Emerald and the site for the battle between GUN and the Dark Arms. "Before making our run at either GUN or Dark Solstice, we need more Chaos Emeralds. And we'll have some time before either side has a chance to start fighting."

"Maybe if we just take the Chaos Emerald for ourselves, they wouldn't fight to begin with," Amy added. She of course was only worried about the human soldiers in GUN who would have to fight. Even in betrayal she was graceful and kind at heart.

"Or maybe bring both sides' attention right to us..." Knuckles grim remark carried some truth to it. They had the attention of two armies, both seeking control of the Chaos Emeralds, and their small gang stood in their way.

"What about Dark Shade," Amy wondered out loud. "He looks like he's doing something _shady_." Rouge and Tails both groaned at Amy's play on words. Knuckles snickered privately to himself, earning the pink hedgehog's knowing smile. Shadow suppressed any sort of acknowledgment, but the occasional lip tug betrayed his stoic face.

"He's taken control of a GUN facility...he's after something," Rouge said. "What could GUN have that the Dark Arms wants?"

"The Chaos Emerald for one," Tails pointed out. "Maybe that facility had the Chaos Emerald to begin with?"

"Maybe one of their super weapons," Shadow suggested darkly. "And don't even think of challenging Dark Solstice on his home territory. I was there, I know how big their numbers are. I think we should wait until we have all the Chaos Emeralds together before taking our swing at him."

"So then let's go steal that first one before GUN or the Dark Arms gets it first," Rouge said. She, Shadow, Omega, Tails, and Amy turned to head out, but were stopped in their tracks when they saw the Egg Fleet fast approaching.

"Oh come on!"

"He's still on our side," Shadow affirmed as he opened radio channels to the Egg Fleet. "Come in Doctor, this is Shadow. I'm hoping you and Sonic completed your mission?"

"Sonic," Amy wondered as she turned to Tails. The two-tailed fox shrugged in confusion. He and Amy both wondered why Sonic would stay to help Eggman.

"_Yes on both accounts my dear Shadow, I'm sending him ahead of the fleet. What's our situation on the next Chaos Emeralds?"_

Shadow hesitated slightly. Part of him wasn't sure about Eggman's intentions, but his suspicions were silenced when Shadow reminded himself that Eggman was the one who brought GUN's intentions to light. Eggman was bent on world domination, and he had proven time and time again that he wouldn't stand idly by while some other party threatened to destroy it all. He worked with Sonic and company about as much as he fought against them.

"We've located the last four Chaos Emeralds. There's one nearby, but both GUN and the Dark Arms' forces are moving in to claim it. We're hoping to take it before they can."

"_Roger that. Will you be needing the assistance of the Eggman Empire, or would you prefer to move in on your own? If I'm just going to sit here on stationary duty, I'll just focus my attention on building the Fleet."_

"I think we'll handle this one on our own Doctor," Shadow responded. "We're hoping to move in fast enough to claim the Emerald early enough that neither side will attack each other."

Eggman scoffed loudly, _"Good luck with that."_

Shadow's head snapped up as a jet cut across the sky. Just as the airship flew over Angel Island, a familiar blue hedgehog dropped down from it. Sonic flipped around and tucked his legs into his chest as he passed through the barrier unharmed, and just as the barrier shifted to green. As the blue hedgehog passed through the barrier, remnant Chaos Energy clung to his fur, but slowly trailed off of his body just as he landed.

"Show off," Shadow scoffed before he walked right past his rival. Sonic glared at the black hedgehog and turned back around for some honest praise.

Rouge walked by next, along with the lumbering Omega. Amy smiled and followed Team Dark past her longtime crush. "Come on Sonic," Tails cheered as he pulled the utterly disappointed hedgehog along. "We're getting that Chaos Emerald first!"

"If we're not using Eggman's ships, we'll take my jet," Rouge proclaimed. She pulled out a remote and tapped a few buttons, making the jet's engine roar with life. "It'll get us in and out fast and quiet."

"So we just drop in, snatch the Emerald, and leave? Easy."

"Negative." All eyes turned to Omega at the back of the group, "According to radio frequencies on both sides, high ranking leaders are in charge of the expedition. GUN is led by Oxford of Team APEX, and the Dark Arms are headed by Dark Marauder." Shadow and Rouge both grew heated with Omega's information. They both had a bone to pick with Marauder and Oxford respectively. "It would be beneficial, for going after GUN or the Dark Arms later to eliminate these leaders."

"We can't just kill GUN officers though." Team Dark turned as Amy jumped in the middle of their discussion. "I mean, yeah they're kind of jerks right now, but GUN does a lot of good around the world besides just keeping Eggman in check."

"Trust me, Oxford and his little team won't be missed," Rouge replied bitterly. The scowl on her face frightened Amy a bit.

"She might be right though," Shadow stated. "If it comes down to either GUN or Dark Arms, the latter pose a threat, not just to us, but to everyone." Rouge hated the idea of letting Oxford go, and have GUN unscathed. She assured herself that the Dark Arms would do that for her.

Once the team was on Rouge's jet, the pilot took off towards the warzone.

* * *

"We'll split into two teams," Rouge explained. The location of the Emerald was only ten minutes away by flying. "We'll have a distraction team, which can draw the attention of both Dark Arms and GUN away from the recovery team, who can slip under the radar and grab the Chaos Emerald before either side knew what hit them."

"You should drop the distraction team off first and give them time to draw the enemy's attention away from you," Shadow suggested. "Omega and I can handle that."

"I'll go with you guys," Sonic cheered. "Beating bad guys up sounds like my kind of day!"

"No," Rouge sharply replied. Sonic pouted immediately at not having a say. He was use to taking charge, but Rouge and Shadow had more experience in the current field of expertise. "Each team needs to be divided up evenly. Shadow and Omega provide both speed and strength. Sonic, you'll need to be apart of the recovery team with me."

"I'll go with Shadow and Omega," Amy offered. Sonic turned around quickly to his girlfriend with a startled look on his face. "If your guys' job is to go in and out quickly, then a smaller team would work best, right?"

"I guess that leaves you with us Tails," Rouge finished. The fox nodded confidently.

"Amy you—,"

"Sonic, I'll be fine." The pink hedgehog smiled as she leaned on the Piko Piko Hammer. Despite her confidence, Sonic's wavered at the idea of Amy being tossed in the middle of a warzone.

Shadow noted Sonic's concern. Nobody could afford to have their heads out of the game right now. "We won't let anything happen to her," Shadow finally said. Sonic turned to his rival for assurance. Behind Shadow, Omega towered over the black hedgehog, and clenched his robotic fist.

"Affirmative."

Sonic smiled briefly at the robot. He never would have believed that he would be grateful to something Eggman created.

"We're approaching the drop zone for the distraction team," Rouge called out.

"Wait for the explosions to start," Amy teased as she led the team towards the rear hatch. Shadow and Omega flanked the young girl on either side.

"Opening hatch in five. Don't let Amy pass you boys up." Sonic and Tails strapped themselves in just as Rouge opened the hatch. All the air in the cabin rushed out, followed by a cheering Amy, and the silent duo of Shadow and Omega.

The team landed in a scorched clearing as Rouge and the others circled back the way they came. _"We'll keep in touch. Let us know when you've caused enough problems for them."_

"Copy that," Shadow responded before switching the radio off.

"What happened here...?"

"Location and markings imply Dark Arms," Omega answered. The robot's head quickly rotated to the side, "Warning, cloaked enemies in range!"

Shadow quickly turned and threw his leg into the air. His foot connected with the chin of a GUN trooper with an activated cloaking device, which deactivated as soon as the soldier was hit. "This is new."

Amy shrieked as something grabbed her. She reached back to grip whatever the invisible force was, and then threw the soldier through the air screaming. The soldier was sent hurtling towards Omega, who back handed the soldier out of his way. The robotic war machine readied his weapons to wipe out the remaining forces. Shadow quickly raced around the clearing and knocked out every single soldier before Omega could get his targets aligned.

The Ultimate Life Form stopped just in front of Omega and took the robot's heavy stare stoically. "No killing GUN soldiers." The two red eyed fighters stared at each other silently. Shadow knew Omega wouldn't budge on such an order, "Unless absolutely necessary..."

"Affirmative."

Omega by no means was bloodthirsty, or had any personal grudge against GUN. Shadow knew that the robot would kill if his own existence was in danger. It was easy to forget that Omega was just as often a cold, logical machine as much as he was a person.

_'The bias of friendship,'_ Shadow thought to himself.

"So, how should we—," Amy's question was cut short when Omega began firing missiles in two very opposite directions. The pink girl blinked before she turned to her fellow hedgehog with a curious stare.

"He's drawing attention...or...malfunctioning..."

"Targets inbound," Omega announced as he stopped firing. "GUN and Dark Arms both."

"Get ready. Amy, stick with me. Omega, can you handle them on your own?"

"Affirmative." Omega began unloading a hail of heavy slugs as a horde of Dark Parasites rushed out of the woodwork. Shadow stared at Amy, who already took the lead away from Omega. She recognized the plan to divide and distract.

GUN's robots rained down from the sky to cut off the pink hedgehog's trail. She flipped over one Hunter drone and slammed her hammer through the top of a second robot, crushing it like a tin can. Another pair of automatons aimed their rifles at Amy from either side, only to be blown away by a yellow streak. As Shadow materialized before Amy's eyes, he charged up his power quickly, and unleashed it all in a devastating Chaos Blast.

The red energy bomb ripped through GUN robots and the earth itself, but left Amy unscathed. The hammer wielding hedgehog took a moment to admire Shadow. The Ultimate Life Form's shoulders heaved a bit as remnant red Chaos Energy rolled off of his fur, mimicking the same affect Sonic had after passing through Angel Island's barrier. The flickers of energy faded in the air, before Amy's eyes.

Motion caught Omega's sensors. As soon as he finished the last of the Parasites, a fresh horde of armed Dark Soldiers and new Parasites rushed out of the treeline. One of Omega's hands continued to blast an endless stream of shells into the aliens, allowing his other hand to shift to a missile launcher. Several of the Dark Soldiers fired back at Omega, but they all scattered from the hail of bullets.

Omega aimed his other hand and launched bomb after bomb into the spreading sea of darkness. The lasers fired from the Dark Soldiers bounced off of Omega's hardened casing, and the continuous biting of the Dark Parasites. He ignored the distractions that didn't hurt him, and continued to tear through the hapless aliens.

A squad of four Dark Soldiers flanked over to Omega's right side. One of the creatures was armed with a large, heavy blaster of some kind. The weapon began to charge with a loud whirling sound. A dark red energy ball charged as the aliens aimed at the unsuspecting Omega. The shot was never fired, as the shooter was taken out with a sniper bullet that ripped through its chest.

The surviving aliens, and Omega, turned to the sound of a human weapon. Cassidy, armed with a smoking rifle, shouldered the firearm as a large squadron of GUN soldiers and robots charged around her to join the fray.

Omega's red eyes scanned Cassidy closely, recognizing her from their previous encounter. The cheetah flashed a taunting salute before she dashed off from sight.

With Cassidy's forces, GUN held a clear advantage.

One of the Dark Soldiers grabbed its fallen companion's heavy weapon, and charged it up. Omega fired a rocket, despite the Dark Arms squad no longer focusing on him. The Soldier got one shot off before Omega's missile blew him and the other three aliens apart.

The red orb of energy launched from the explosion. As it cleared the blast radius, it hit the heart of a group of GUN infantry and Hunter bots. The orb expanded into a huge dome of destruction, similar to Shadow's Chaos Blast, only with weaker force. Unlike the Chaos Blast, the Dark Arm's weapon vaporized everything within the explosion, and everything outside was thrown clear by the shock wave.

Shadow materialized after blasting through a flock of airborne Beetle drones in the sky above. The flaming debris and pieces caught up with him as they rained down on the ground.

He was forced to stumble forward when a sharp, blunt blow hit him in the back of the neck. Shadow had been hit with enough guns to know what one felt like.

The hedgehog ended up with a mouthful of dirt as he caught himself on his hands. He turned to his attacker and saw a female cheetah, and the barrel of a high powered sniper rifle aimed right between his eyes.

"Say nighty night, Shadow..."

Cassidy's ears and feline eyes turned towards a new source of danger. She pulled her rifle to her chest and flipped backwards as the yellow Piko Piko Hammer came crashing down.

The specialist snarled at Shadow's rescuer, and instantly lined up herself for a quick-shot. Shadow acted fast and shot off the ground, and kicked the sniper rifle upwards as the shot ripped through the air harmlessly away from Amy.

Cassidy held onto her weapon, but her arms and weapon where thrown up above her head. Shadow planted his foot on the ground, and twisted his body around. His knee was pulled towards his chest, cocked back before it eventually shot out with tremendous force. Cassidy managed to bring her rifle back down, using the broad side of it to take Shadow's kick. The blow still threw the cheetah back.

The dust flew out from where she landed on her back. A faint trail was left where she was dragged, stopping at the large boots of another GUN agent. Wade the Wolverine chuckled coldly as he slammed one giant fist into his opposing palm.

"Hello duckies. Here ta walk the dogs are ya?"

Shadow and Amy gave the other befuddled looks.

Cassidy shot up to her feet and dusted her arms off, "Don't mind him. He makes sense when you get to know him. Ya just gotta speak the language. Like this...Wade," Shadow and Amy tensed, "Take out the trash!"

The large wolverine sneered as he ripped two explosives off his vest and activated them, "I gotta unclog the garbage disposal at home! It's full of shoe laces!" The wolverine threw the bombs forward faster than either hedgehog could dodge. Shadow grabbed Amy and dove out of the way as the explosives detonated.

There was a hot, forceful blast of wind that blistered Shadow's back and sent him hurtling forward. His body crashed into Amy's. Their forms twisted and tumbled across the ground, both grunting and whimpering with each bounce across the hard ground.

Cassidy chuckled and gave her partner a rough punch in the arm as her way of saying 'thanks.' Her sniper rifle started to recoil and compact into a smaller form after she pressed a red button on it. The weapon's specialist slide the compacted rifle into a holster on her back before she reached for two custom pistols strapped to her hips. Wade slipped on a pair of electric gloves on his large hands and flexed his fingers. As he moved his digits, electric sparks ignited around his knuckles.

Shadow quickly rose up to his feet as Amy just began to stir. He still felt the heat from the explosion burning the fur on his back.

Cassidy shot across the clearing in a bright yellow blur and stopped just in front of Shadow. The hedgehog glared at her with a pistol held right to his forehead. The hedgehog quickly rose up and knocked the barrel of the gun up. The first shot rung through the air.

Cassidy growled sharply and shot her other gun forward at Shadow's chest. The hedgehog's left hand came across and smacked the other weapon out of the way as the second shot hit the ground a foot away. Shadow's crossed arms shot out in opposite directions to grab Cassidy's wrists. His grip locked her arms and guns in place. He finished the feud with a dropkick to the cheetah's chest that threw her on the ground again.

Wade rushed past his partner, his heavy footsteps leaving boot prints in the mud. The explosives expert tucked himself into a ball while he ran, rolling quickly towards Shadow. He was slower, but Shadow could see that Wade's sheer size and weight made his spin dash just as dangerous.

Amy sprung past Shadow to meet Wade first. Her hammer slammed into his spinning form. She was nearly thrown back the instant there was impact. Thankfully she had enough time to prepare herself before she was finally hurled backwards by Shadow.

Wade's spinning body was closing in on the hedgehogs fast. Their salvation came at the unlikely hands of two Dark Brutes that came crashing in from the sky. Each alien behemoth used one of their massive palms to stop Wade in his tracks. Using their other hands, they grabbed the crazed specialist and threw him straight through the treeline.

Shadow looked up as four Dark Arms drop ships loomed in the sky above. _"Enemy reinforcements!"_ Shadow's eyes moved over to Omega's location as the robot was quickly swarmed by GUN forces. He was starting to regret not bringing Eggman and his army along.

"Sonic, we've got their attention! Tell Rouge to move in towards the Emerald!"

"_Do you need backup?"_

"Negative!" Shadow had to reorganize, but he could handle it. "Stick to your objective! Get that damn fourth Emerald!"

* * *

Sonic tried to reestablish the connection, but Shadow shut him off, "That idiot..."

"We have the green light," Rouge snapped as she kicked her jet's engines off of idle. "You boys better strap in. This is going to have a bit of a kick."

Rouge didn't lie. Tails was fortunate enough to be in the passenger's seat next to the pilot. Sonic was standing towards the front, but was thrown to the back in seconds when Rouge kicked the engines. She was determined not to lose this time.

* * *

Shadow created a whirlwind around a squad of Hunter robots. The force of his black winds lifted the drones off the ground and crashed them into each other with explosive force.

Amy flipped through the air and slammed into one Beetle with her hammer. The bot exploding sent her flying to the next one, where she repeated the process until five were down, and she was out of targets. The two hedgehogs landed next to Omega, who began showing signs of minor damage. Most of it were simple dings and scratches, but he had a few sizable dents to show for it as well.

"Come on, we've got to regroup!"

"Affirmative." Omega responded to Shadow's orders and lifted the smaller creatures up in his arms. His jets fired on and carried the trio into the nearest covering in the treeline.

At that point, there were enough GUN and Dark Arms around to keep themselves busy. When they were cleared, Shadow looked over his metallic partner, "Are you alright Omega?"

"Affirmative. Threshold for damage only lowered .1 percent." Shadow flashed a smirk. He knew Amy couldn't recognize Omega's sense of humor. His outer plating showed that he was suffering more than a single percentage. "What is our next goal?"

"I figure the more attention we bring here, the more Oxford and Marauder focus on turning their resources to destroying each other."

"So, you want to bring more ships, and things that go 'boom' on our general location?"

"That is the point of a distraction team." Amy stared up at Omega with scrutiny. The robot's odd sense of humor was a show of respect towards other people. Of course he quickly tried to mask his failed attempt, "I will destroy all who stand in my way!"

"He's...strange..."

"You get use to it." Shadow watched the two opposing forces starting to tear into each other as even more reinforcements arrived. It didn't take long to notice that the Dark Arms were greater in sheer numbers, but GUN had better equipment and weaponry, along with Cassidy and Wade of Team APEX. "Omega?"

"Analysis inconclusive. Both forces equally threatening in different variants." Shadow grunted with disapproval. "Scans show that the Dark Arms have another batch of reinforcements on the way. GUN forces do not."

"Which puts GUN at a disadvantage," Amy pointed out. Shadow knew she would plea to spare GUN for the greater good. Humanity lost that mercy long ago, but Amy wasn't wrong either.

"I bet if Cassidy were to call in for reinforcements, Oxford would spare them..." The thought was tempting to the betrayed hedgehog. The end goal however was still clear for their team: they were meant to distract the enemy forces. "If Oxford is holding back, that means that either it's a smaller regiment, or he's keeping the rest for himself. Amy, do you think you and Omega can watch each other's backs?"

"The big guy can count on me!"

"Affirmative. I will protect the pink one." Amy frowned under the title.

"Good. You two focus on the Dark Arms then. Thin out their reinforcements as well as possible. I'm going to put pressure on Cassidy..."

"Warning, caution advised when handling those two." Shadow knew not to underestimate his foes. He wasn't as full of himself as Sonic. He made that a point after being introduced to the blue hero.

"I'll be fine Omega. Try not to take anymore damage while I'm gone." Omega's eyes gleamed down at Shadow with a silent warning. The trio scattered towards the two warring factions.

* * *

Rouge and the boys jumped out of the jet as it soared over the flattened trail that one of the enemy armies had paved. They carried forward with their momentum as their feet hit the dirt on landing. The trio sprinted through the clearing towards the Chaos Emerald's location.

The sound of laser and gunfire that rang off far behind their destination served as a firm reminder that speed was of the essence.

Their target was in a tall mountain that came up through the forest rather suddenly. The recovery team had some ground to cover before reaching the destination.

"Up ahead!" Sonic's eyes snapped to where Tails' finger was pointed. A small group of GUN Hunters were battling with a pair of Dark Brutes in the center of the clearing.

They were in the way.

"I got it!" Sonic kicked up the earth beneath his feet and launched himself forward. His speed turned him not a blinding blue freight train that effortlessly crashed through the battle of aliens against robots in an instant.

The Dark Brutes went flying through the sky and crashed somewhere in the forestation. The Hunters were shattered to pieces upon Sonic's boost.

The blue blur continued to press forward, despite leaving Tails and Rouge behind. The issue turned from simple to complicated as an angry horde of Black Volts high in the sky set their yellow eyes on Sonic. A closer inspection showed the aerial creatures outfitted with combat armor, lasers, and rockets.

The creatures parted in formation to send over a hundred missiles launching at Sonic. Each rocket hit just in front of, behind, or around the hedgehog. The ground shook at his feet each time, but Sonic continued to press himself forward, keeping himself just shy of a missile impact. There didn't seem to be an end to the barrage until Sonic ran straight into a cavern.

A few seconds after entering the cave, Sonic sprinted right back out twice as fast. A pair of heavy tanks piloted by basic Dark Soldiers came behind Sonic, firing from their double mounted laser turrets, and main laser cannon. Behind the first two tanks were three more, and five more behind them, and twice as many more that brought up the rear.

Sonic ran for the cover of the forest. The flock of Dark Volts circled back around and tore through the tree tops with laser fire. Sonic covered the back of his head with his hands as he kept running.

"Man, I wish we had a DISTRACTION TEAM!"

"_Believe me, you don't want this job."_

Sonic growled that Shadow left his radio on to hear _that_.

Eggman's army would have been a welcome addition to the mission. But of course, leave the man with the army behind.

"Rouge, Tails, I've got a lot of heat on me!" Sonic cried out as blaster fire started raining down on him from twenty tanks. "I'll try to regroup as soon as I can! Sonic _out!_"

* * *

The two flyers groaned as they watched a small army chase after Sonic far off in the distance. They still had a Chaos Emerald to find, and trusted Sonic enough not to get killed.

Tails said a quick prayer before catching up to Rouge.

With just the two of them, Tails and Rouge were able to move much quicker. Sneaking through the forest was second nature to them both. The two-tailed fox's woodland upbringing was more than enough to have him keeping up with Rouge's years as a secret agent as they slid through the forest, right past Dark Arms and GUN forces.

The base of the mountain was the worst. GUN and Dark Marauder's forces seemed to be intent on finding the emerald first. Rouge knew that Oxford was too smart to simply attack head on instead of make a plan of attack. It made her even more hesitant to dive anywhere near the fighting.

"Well, it made our approach easier, but I think our distraction team idea was kind of needless at this point..."

She felt a pang of annoyance at the subtle blame he put on her.

"It seemed like a good plan. I didn't know that they'd both just start smashing their heads together." Men. "We'll just have to find a way through this mess..."

On cue to dash her hopes, GUN reinforcements in the form of a squad of B-3x Hot Shots flew onto the battlefield. The coup de grace were the Dark Arms reinforcements; a horde of Dark Soldiers, and a battalion of Dark Brutes led by a squad of Dark Elites and Dark Marauder himself.

The black creature pounded his chest with his fist, armed with his power hammer in the other hand. "Come! Bring out your leader to face me!"

"Keep the monster at bay," a GUN corporal called out. The human led forces started to reorganized and reinforce the mountain against the impossible number of aliens that stood against them. "Captain Oxford must reach the Chaos Emerald at all costs!"

"Cowards! You would serve a leader that would leave you to perish!? Dark Marauder will not falter against such weakness! Dark Marauder will not fail!" The gauntlet dropped as Marauder slammed his hammer into the ground. The Dark Arms shrieked an unearthly battle cry as they moved like a wave of darkness towards the mountain.

Tails and Rouge watched as gunfire was traded with missiles, and overwhelming numbers were met with squad busting explosions. The flyers knew the front door was officially suicide.

"Or maybe we find a new entrance..."

"New entrance sounds good," Tails agreed.

The two moved away from the cliff edge and away from the fighting. Rouge pulled out her control to her jet. "If Oxford is already in the mountain, he'll have a head start. We might just have to make our own entrance."

Tails was about to ask, before two missiles cut through the sky and crashed into the side of the mountain with explosive force. They were both far enough away that they only experienced the ground shaking from the new hole made in the side of the landmass. Tails could only look over at Rouge in stunned silence. He couldn't even begin to go into all the things wrong with remotely launched missiles aimed at their _general location._

They quickly made their way towards the entrance. The still smoldering entrance. The scent of burning rock filled Tails' nose. It made him cringe from the harsh odor.

As they walked through the hole in the wall, something shot right over Tails and Rouge's furred ears. They watched as another projectile of some sort slowed down, and turned towards them. Oxford grinned at the flying duo before his jetpack launched him straight up.

"No! Damn it Oxford!" Tails and Rouge sprinted as fast as they possibly could to catch up. "I _hate_ him so much!"

"Personal vendettas aside, we need to get that Chaos Emerald first!"

Rouge was ready to fly after Oxford, until the entire mountain shook under a thunderous crash. The flyers looked down to see Dark Marauder had broken through the mountain's walls. Thankfully the brute didn't notice or care for the other two, and immediately started to climb up the path that Oxford rocketed through.

Rouge was steamed to say the least that the leaders of _both_ armies decided to ruin their divide-and-conquer plan before it could even take off.

Marauder's minions flooded through the hole created by their master. Unlike the brute however, they did see Rouge and Tails both.

"This is going poorly," Tails sighed. Rouge was more than inclined to agree.

* * *

After having separated from the group, Sonic had run into even more bad luck in the form of another GUN and Dark Arms skirmish. Thankfully it helped him handle the horde of Dark Volts that had been dogging him for nearly a mile. After that, it was simple for Sonic to take out the remaining threats in a few short seconds.

Unfortunately, the hero was left with one daunting problem.

"Hey guys," Sonic said, over his team's open frequency. "I have a small question..."

"_Now what,"_ Shadow asked. Sonic could hear the frustration in his counterpart's voice, also the strained grunts implied he was still fighting.

"I ran into a uh...what I assume to be a bomb..."

The warhead was as tall as Sonic standing up, with GUN's logo and name painted on its chrome casing. The only clear implication that it was a bomb was the flashing timer that started to count down after Sonic arrived.

"What do I do?"

"_What's it look like Sonic?"_

"It looks like a bomb, Tails!"

"_Who cares, just run it here quick! Marauder and Oxford are both about to get the Chaos Emerald, and we're pinned down!"_

"What about Amy and the others? They could use a bomb!" Shadow cried out over the radio. It sounded like he was thrown across the ground.

"_The objective is the Chaos Emerald! Get the bomb to Rouge!"_

Sonic wasn't about to jump the gun on Shadow's orders. Amy was apart of his team, and from what he could hear things weren't going well.

"I can run this to you guys and then be back before—,"

"_No! There is no before Sonic! It's now or never!"_

The timer attested to Rouge's statement. He was running out of time. He knew securing the Chaos Emerald was the goal. It was the whole point of their mission. If it fell into the hands of Oxford or Marauder, things would get worse for them before they got better. They needed the Chaos Emerald.

His mind still outweighed the rational choice. He kept thinking about Amy. How could he live with himself if she got hurt? Or worse?

Sonic placed his hands over the bomb, clenching the metal explosive tightly. "I'm sorry..." The hedgehog vanished in a blue streak that cut through the forest.

* * *

Shadow blocked Cassidy's strikes with his arms and knees, keeping up with the yellow speedster blow-for-blow. The agent seemed to relish the opportunity to brawl against GUN's former top star.

The hedgehog quickly cartwheeled out of the way as Wade's oversized fist attempted to squash him. Instead, it formed a hole in the ground. Shadow quickly raced around behind Wade and ran up his backside. After jumping off the wolverine's shoulders, Shadow twisted his body around and sent his foot swiping across Cassidy's jaw.

The yellow soldier stumbled before Shadow grabbed the back of her kevlar vest and hurled her straight into Wade's broad chest. She slammed into her partner hard, but the towering bruiser didn't even flinch. Before either teammate could react, Shadow quickly started a spin dash, building up spinning force like a hurricane.

Shadow didn't bother with a catchphrase, opting instead to simply launch forward like a rocket and slam into both Cassidy and Wade with incredible force. Shadow's spinning form carried them through the clearing, tearing apart dozens of GUN bots in their path before the black hedgehog sent his foes flying forward without him.

With the primary threats out of the way, Shadow raced off to join Omega and Amy.

GUN forces had dominated the battlefield. Amy and Omega were overwhelmed with Hunter and Beetle bots. There were a few pockets of Dark Arms resistance left, but they stood about as likely a chance as the heroes.

Amy screamed loudly as her hammer smashed through a Hunter's midsection, busting it in half. She didn't slow down as she continued to sprint and smash through a few more robots. One Hunter saw her coming, and aimed for a direct kill-shot.

The robot was impaled with Omega's claw, and immediately ripped in half as a result. The ultimate of the E-Series models turned and started to mow down the robots with his twin cannons. He had kept true to his word, and soaked up most of the fire on Amy's behalf. Omega was covered in scorch marks, scrapes, scratches, dents, and even holes that punched through his solid outer casing. Amy had taken her fair share of heat too however, and it was beginning to show. Her dress and quills were covered with dirt, and a slight bruise was beginning to darken on her cheek, but it didn't slow her down.

The duo was joined by Shadow, who helped to clear a bit of breathing room for the trio. The dark yellow streak of speed crashed through soldiers and robots alike, making room for a wide clearing around Amy and Omega both. When Shadow stopped, he was the only thing standing between the worn out pair and the army of GUN soldiers.

The legion of GUN robots readied their weapons and took aim at the Ultimate Life Form. Shadow didn't even blink, but readied himself to jet at a moment's notice to wipe out the forces.

He froze in place when he saw a blue blur cut through the robots from their flank. Sonic stopped next to Shadow, sparing his rival only a glance before he disappeared before his red eyes. Shadow clenched his fists that Sonic blatantly shot their chances of securing the Emerald down without a second thought.

"Damn it!" Shadow turned tail and ran. He figured Sonic dropped the bomb off somewhere behind the wall of GUN robots, and didn't want to be anywhere near it when it detonated.

Sonic didn't stop as he scooped Amy up in his arms and continued forward to clear the warzone. When Shadow raced by, Omega joined the two speedy creatures and departed.

"Rouge, Sonic went AWOL! He brought the bomb to our location!"

"_That IDIOT!"_

"We've got to pull back, now!"

The detonation punctuated the importance of Shadow's statement. The warhead exploded with enough force to shake the ground and throw the heroes off their feet, despite the sizable distance they had cleared. After the ground rocked the heroes into the air, a powerful shockwave slammed into them.

Sonic and Amy held each other close to withstand the blast. Omega shielded his optics with one hand, but remained locked to the ground thanks to his weight. Shadow was less fortunate, and had been tossed and bounced across the dirt like a ragdoll.

When he looked up, he was horrified to see a tower of black smoke that reached above the clouds and reached into the sky. A second wave, less powerful than the first, rolled through with the blistering heat of the explosion. A few faint embers were carried with the second wave as they drifted past Shadow and the others.

"Damn it..." Shadow pulled himself off the ground and opened up the radio again, "Rouge? Rouge do you copy?"

There was only static that replied to Shadow. The white noise faded out, _"Oxford got the Emerald..."_ Shadow closed his eyes. _"We lost the Chaos Emerald."_

"Copy." Shadow glared back at Sonic with frustration and disappointment. Sonic met his rival's gaze, but there was still doubt lingering in his green eyes. It was clear to him that Sonic was weighing if he had made the right call or not. "You screwed this up," Shadow said. The blue hedgehog's gaze waned and drifted to the ground. "GUN has two Chaos Emeralds now..."

"Shadow," Amy stood up in defense of Sonic. "Now isn't the time." Shadow decided to drop it. He was sure that Rouge would have a few choice words for the blue hero.

* * *

No one said a single word until they arrived back on Angel Island. Not when waiting for Rouge to pick them up, not on the flight back. The only sounds were Amy murmuring to Sonic in a failed attempt to comfort him.

Knuckles watched the cavalry return, but stayed quiet himself. The projection of the remaining Chaos Emeralds showed that the yellow one in Oxford's possession was fast on its way towards GUN Headquarters.

"We'll get another chance at it," Knuckles finally said. "We're not beaten yet. We still have more Chaos Emeralds than either forces."

"We can't go after GUN right now," Shadow spoke, looking towards Rouge. The bat nodded in agreement, though she was itching to put Oxford in his place.

"Agreed. They may have taken a serious blow, but now they have two Chaos Emeralds in one location."

"That leaves Dark Solstice himself, or Shade," Knuckles pointed out. "Solstice hasn't done much, but whatever Shade is planning, he's using the Chaos Emerald's power to do it." Knuckles shifted the images in front of him to the Dark Shade's location.

The fortress looked largely abandoned. The only signs that anyone had been through recently were the abandoned tanks, ships, and vehicles left by the Dark Arms. There were no patrols, no guards, no sign of any life. It put Shadow's quills on end.

Rouge was just as skeptical, but tried to make sense of it. Why would they leave the place unguarded if they went to all the trouble of taking it over? "They're...all probably inside."

"Why can't anything ever be easy," Shadow wondered to himself. If the last mission was any indication, he knew that they would need Eggman and his army for this one. He knew without looking that everyone else was in no shape to rush off against another army. "Doctor, come in."

"_Ah, welcome back Shadow. Did you miss me?"_

"We're going to move against Dark Shade next. We're going to need your help this time."

"_What? That little GUN facility? Is it too much for you and Sonic?"_

Shadow bit his tongue to refrain from making any jabs at Sonic. He was still bitter about losing a Chaos Emerald to GUN, but another part of him was grateful he pulled their butts out of the fire when he did. A very small part.

"After our last excursion, I'm not too comfortable going in with a small group." There was a long pause on the radio.

"_There aren't any Dark Arms readings in the base..."_

"Doctor?"

"_I've created a scanner to locate vast hordes of Dark Arms, since that's how they like to travel around. It can detect them even underground, and I can't pick up anything in that facility. I'm not sure an army will be needed."_

Everyone turned to Knuckles, who just stared at the world map. The echidna shook his head as the location of the Chaos Emerald showed no signs of movement. Shade was there, and he was likely to have some force with him.

"Doctor, we know Shade is there and—,"

"_Oh I'll bring the fleet just in case. Who else is coming on this mission?"_

Shadow looked at Omega, who would need a fair bit of nursing in order to be fully equipped for another battle. Sonic was still brooding over his choice, and Amy was sitting next to him in an effort to console him. Knuckles couldn't leave Angel Island still, and Tails looked like he was half asleep. Rouge was the only one that was on her feet and still ready to hunt the emeralds.

"I think this time it's going to just be me and Rouge."

"_Ho-ho! Just like the old days, eh?"_

Shadow would have been inclined to smile if he remembered anything about their first meeting. All he knew was what the others had told him, but as far as the experience itself there was nothing to draw from. "We'll meet your fleet momentarily, Doctor." Shadow cut off the transmission and turned towards Rouge. She gave a firm nod and was already heading towards the jet.

* * *

**So, yeah. I don't really have a valid excuse for why this took so long, aside from a fickle muse. I do apologize to the people who favorite and follow this story and wait so long for an update. I've been back and forth with real life issues, but believe it or not I've actually been writing more (on ideas that are neither of my two stories unfortunately). But I'm kicking my muse in the tail to make him focus on the stories I already have for the time being.**

**And now, for the part where I break this chapter down from my POV. I had way too much fun writing out the scenarios for where each of the remaining Chaos Emeralds were. It just kind of panned itself out in my mind, and with options, comes choices. Around the time I was writing this chapter, I started playing Tales From the Borderlands, so I figured, what the hell, why not write it like a TellTale game? So for anyone who wondered why I spent so much time writing about them going back and forth about where to go first, that's why. Because if this story was made into a game, I'd make it like a Sonic RPG, with choices, and consequences (looking at you Sonic), and all that wonderful stuff.**

**The next chapter is going to be fairly obvious where they're going. I'm excited to have Shadow, Rouge, and Eggman working together again (yay Sonic Adventure 2~!) and you might just learn something about the Dark Arms in the process. Expect heavy feelz in the next chapter.**

**Praise, critiques, suggestions, and ideas are all welcome! Again, sorry for the wait, and I hope you enjoyed!**


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